Shift
by unforgetabELLE
Summary: Human. The screen flashed brightly and everyone chuckled as if to say obviously. There was just one problem. Marinette's result most definitely would not garner a chuckle. She glanced around and her eyes met his, green orbs reflecting the panic she felt in her own veins. She didn't know him but knew intrinsically they were the same. And they needed to be anywhere but here.
1. Intro

She flew across the rooftops berating herself for sleeping through her alarms-all seven of them-again. If Tikki were an any less understanding mentor, Marinette was sure she would have been dumped for a less tardy pupil by now. Thankfully, though, she'd managed to be under the proverbial and literal wing of the kindest soul she knew; that didn't mean she made training easy. Tikki may be compassionate and encouraging, but she was demanding and it made Marinette work three times harder. The idea of disappointing her...well, Marinette chose not to dwell on that feeling because she refused to let it happen.

She flapped her wings faster, her eyes scanning the awakening horizon for obstacles and the quickest route, but her mind wandering back to the sky. Dawn was her favorite time of day, and being able to watch it break-on the rare occasions she woke up on time-was even further incentive to train with Tikki, even if it did mean lying to everyone she loved about her secret life and concentrating every single moment of every day in order to not accidentally transform into a ladybug. She was pondering this, gazing in awe at the shifting colors of the sky when she flew straight into one of the very obstacles she was supposed to be looking out for. Luckily it was plush enough that even at her significantly enhanced speed, she merely got the wind knocked out of her. She ruffled her wings, shaking off the impact and steadying herself in the air when she looked to what she had hit.

A black, fury face stared back at her. A cat. Her brain named the animal easily, but one look into its much too intelligent eyes and her métamorphe instincts sounded the alarm. They regarded each other for an eternal moment, Marinette not daring to utter a word and give herself away in case this was actually what she thought it was. Then the bell tower tolled in the distance and she was officially late for practice. Her wings reacted instinctively, quickly carrying her away and towards Tikki even as her mind stayed with the black cat, stuck on one shocking realization: that definitely wasn't your typical alley cat.

* * *

Adrien was having a shitty night-or was it morning? He looked over and saw the dawn just trying to break and shook his head. Night, he decided. Anyone happily waking up at this time and calling it 'morning' was clearly a sociopath.

He'd managed to escape the festivities at his house earlier that night celebrating his father's...promotion… and had ended up running the length of the city twice over in an attempt to forget the party at his house celebrating an occasion that would turn his home-life into a further living hell.

He took a breath and tried to calm himself. He always got a little...catty when he transformed. Hazard of shifting into a black cat, he supposed. He'd often wondered what that said about his true self, that his métamorphe gene had been activated and it showed his inner animal to be a common alley cat. He tried not to dwell on it too much.

Arching his back languidly, Adrien stretched out his exhausted muscles, enjoying the slight burn of their well-worked lengths. Plagg had found him wandering around the city, of course. They had cancelled training for the night, Adrien expected to be his father's shining golden boy for the evening, but that hadn't lasted long, and Plagg probably guessed as much. His mentor always seemed to find him exactly in the moments he wanted to be left alone. It was those moments that he probably needed someone most, but he wouldn't give Plagg the satisfaction of him admitting that.

The ornery man had challenged him that night, correctly guessing that Adrien would rather focus on anything other than the thoughts swirling in his own mind, and throwing him into an impromptu training session. Hours later, after rolling his eyes constantly at Plagg's sarcastic remarks and working even harder to prove to himself that Plagg barbs were actually the joke he meant them as, Adrien was thankfully just as mentally exhausted as he was physically.

He jumped agily onto the ledge of the roof about a block from home and dreaming about his nice, warm, comfortable bed... He got lost in his thoughts, leaning closer to the edge and enjoying the precariousness of his situation when a bug hit him right between the eyes and he let out an involuntary hiss.

Except, it couldn't have been just a bug. It felt more like a dull bullet, flying much faster than any insect should be able to. Sitting back on his haunches, muscles coiled and ready to attack, he watched as the ladybug ruffle its wings and right itself in the air, pausing and turning to him as if to size him up. It floated a little closer, but a clock tower rang in the distance, indicating it was five in the morning. As if the insect somehow knew what that sound meant, it backed away and flew off into the distance, disappearing almost instantly and leaving Adrien to wonder if he had imagined the entire interaction.

He licked a paw, rubbing it against his face where the bug had made contact gingerly and hoping that there wasn't a bruise there when he shifted back. No, he definitely hadn't imagined it, and that was definitely no ordinary ladybug.


	2. Chapter 1

Marinette was late for school. Again. It was just homeroom, so the day hadn't _technically_ started yet, but she was in a flurry nonetheless. Stopping briefly at her locker, she stashed her boots while grabbing her school-issue shoes. After shimmying out of her joggers, she managed to slip on the penny loafers while simultaneously wrapping and securing her kilt. Uniform complete, if a bit rumpled, she grabbed her books for first period just in time for the bell to ring and for students to rush out into the halls, their faces exhausted but their steps hurried.

"There you are!" A voice from behind her exclaimed and Marinette froze for a second before realizing it was just Alya and not Ms. Bustier busting her for her tardiness again. She turned and smiled.

"Hey," she chirped back. Alya walked over and immediately linked arms with her as they made their way through the sea of girls towards first period. When she'd been offered the scholarship, Marinette had been trepidatious about coming to the international all-girls school, even if it was the best in the city. Her worries were soon dashed when she met Alya the first day of classes. Their schedules were almost identical, and they had become inseparable ever since. Alya was the calm to her frenzy. They'd known each other two years now, and sometimes Marinette questioned how she'd ever functioned without Alya to rant to or to keep her from accidentally walking into traffic-which unfortunately, in her usual sleep-deprived state, had happened more than once.

They walked to their first period government and sociology class to see the students all storing their books and lining up. Alya must have noticed her confused expression because she just rolled her eyes.

"The field trip, Mari. To the MRA. Remember?"

Marinette cringed involuntarily at the mention of that particular agency, cursing herself for not remembering.

The métamorphe Readjustment Agency. An entire branch of the government whose sole purpose was to find métamorphes and "readjust" them. No one really knew what that meant. One day the métamorphes were discovered and the next they just disappeared. Never to be heard from again. No one questioned it, after all, those people were _different_ , which for some reason always equated to _dangerous._ Marinette often wondered how many missing persons cases were actually métamorphes who got caught. Unfortunately, it wasn't like she could ever go about the research to find out. Asking around would draw too much attention to herself, and that's the last thing she needed, being a métamorphe herself.

She'd only shifted for the first time within the last year, but, if hesitant at first, had quickly grabbed a hold of her new identity and wore it with pride, making the MRA her natural enemy.

Many people had the gene. It was a part of their heritage as human beings, but it was the part of human history people liked to forget. A deviant evolution brought about by dubious magical origins, métamorphes coexisted alongside the statiques-the non-shifting humans-for generations. Usually, but not always, travelling in packs, those coming of age who possessed the gene would be activated by the mere presence of their kind or sometimes by just a particularly strong inheritance in their blood. Like with everything, there were some tensions-some métamorphes preferring to remain only with their own kind and some humans refusing to allow shifters into their villages-but for the most part they had all intermixed, statique and métamorphe brothers and sisters living side by side. For a time, it was peaceful.

Then the tides changed. Where once métamorphe powers were accepted and even lauded as god-given, now they were suddenly accused of witchcraft. Out of self-preservation, the métamorphes forced the gene dormant, scattering to stem the process of activation by proximity and, with the help of some brave statique allies, deliberately interbreeding in the hope that the gene would weaken and less and less children would answer the call of the shift.

It worked a little too well.

The gene was undetectable in most DNA now, and only about one person out of a hundred thousand had a strong enough presence in their blood to experience the shift naturally. Those who did lived among the statiques in constant fear of discovery, relying on the protection of the guardian to see them through the initial year, and then they were on their own.

That was the one stipulation set aside at the onset of the witch trials. For as long as métamorphes had existed, so had the monastery of Liu, preserving and studying the history of Master Yi, the first guardian who legend tells unlocked the ancient magic and brought forth the first métamorphe. But when the world started to hunt them, the elders recognized that in order for their people to live, a change was necessary. So they showed their people the way into hiding, but not before creating a provision to safeguard the métamorphe heritage and the magic of Yi.

A guardianship of the métamorphes was formed, an honor passed down through the generations that dictated the recipient of the ancient magic. Scattered around the world, each guarded a set of pithoi, seven ornate jars that encapsulate the basic essence of every métamorphe. But, in the event of dire need, they hold the power for something much greater: the activation of the protectors. In the beginning, protectors existed as the highest of monks, healers, shamen, and warriors, each serving a crucial cause among the métamorphe family. In peaceful times, they became ambassadors, protecting, counseling and healing statiques and métamorphe alike. When the monastery was abandoned, and the métamorphes scattered, so did the protectors. All mention of them was wiped from history, but the elders knew the day might come when the world would call for them again. They bestowed this last gift, this last responsibility, onto the guardians and those who came after them, believing they would know when the time was right.

For generations, no one was chosen. The métamorphe gene was suppressed enough that any métamorphe that happened to occur naturally was immediately detected by the guardians and taught to hide it well, blending in and not drawing attention to themselves. They learned to be self-sufficient, each métamorphe for themselves, as they navigated the dangerous minefields of a society that was slowly forgetting them. With little danger, the guardians stayed their hands. The role of protector was a dangerous destiny to thrust on someone, and despite the threat of forgetting completely the métamorphe heritage, there was no need to disrupt people's lives without cause. As the years passed, the gene dwindled further, leaving only a small percentage of the population with even a trace of the gene potent enough, even skipping multiple generations between activated métamorphes. It seemed that the lineage would fade into nonexistence.

Then Hawkmoth arrived.

According to the story she'd been told, he played by the rules for a while, hiding in the shadows like all other métamorphes before him. Unlike others, he quickly grew tired of living under the burden of so many rules. Befriending the current guardian, he tried to convince him to activate him as a protector. Sensing his intentions were not at all honorable, the guardian began to distance himself from the métamorphe and Hawkmoth retreated. Except he lusted for the power, and before long, had stolen one of the sacred pithoi for himself.

At first, nothing happened. Weeks turned to months, and the guardian began to questions his instincts regarding the man, but before long, a series of murders confirmed his worst fears. In an attempt to make himself a protector, Hawkmoth had channeled the magic of this particular pithos into himself, the way that is never to be performed without the balance of all seven pithos. While Hawkmoth's bastardized version gave him power, it was dark and unstable. It allowed him to activate the métamorphe gene even at its weakest levels, but he was careless and ignorant, not in control of his powers and not stopping the activation process until he had absorbed a métamorphe's entire essence. It gave him the illusion of immortality, and the ability to shift into an unknown about of creatures-one for every life he stole-but it also made him volatile and dangerous.

Although the "how" was lost to history, the guardian was able to steal back the pithos, and for the first time since the elders prepared the safeguard, he activated a team of protectors, each deliberately chosen for their loyalty, intelligence and bravery. Together they pursued Hawkmoth, preventing the murder of countless more humans and métamorphes, but in the heat of their chase, he escaped. He'd remained silent for nearly two decades, but there was no doubt that he'd be back.

From that moment on, there was always a métamorphe team, carefully crafted and trained to be prepared for that day. Unfortunately, when they came into existence, so did the MRA.

The string of murders had been impossible to conceal, even had the guardian been inclined to cover up Hawkmoth's horrors, and the statiques suddenly remembered the existence of métamorphes. They also decided, based off the example of one psychopathic murderer, that they were "unnatural" and needed "help". Over the years, fewer and fewer métamorphes came into existence, and even in their newly connected society and with the guardianship of the protectors, no one dared identify themselves to other métamorphes. There always hung the eternal fear that came with knowing who each other were: if one is captured, they all are compromised. Only the guardian and protectors knew of those activated throughout the city, but the protectors identity remained secret.

Marinette would spend her nights training and patrolling the city. She knew the face of every métamorphe, one small benefit of being a protector when everything else was anonymous, but that was the extent of hew knowledge. No names. No details. That included her fellow protectors, except she didn't even know what their faces looked like. They were complete mysteries to each other.

Even with these safeguards, the MRA was continually evolving in their detection techniques, and the protectors lacked the resources and man-power to keep up. The MRA was always watching, discreetly placed CCTV following their every move until Marinette had learned to detect them instinctively, and DNA sampling for the activated gene. The community had been warned, but year after year, the population dwindled further.

If they found you, that was it. Another métamorpher gone, another bloodline lost. Tikki told her of a girl-one of them, a protector in training- who had been taken to the hospital after an accident. That's where they found her. Apparently around a decade ago, the MRA had started randomly sampling bloodwork of patients hoping for a hit, only being able to detect the métamorphe gene when activated. That day they found one, and the next day that girl was gone. Now all métamorphes avoided hospitals. There was no telling what revelatory technologies they had now.

Marinette swallowed, absentmindedly following Alya out the door and shrugging on her coat as they marched single-file into the cold mid-morning air to await the bus. Marinette had tried very hard to forget that she would soon be forced into the lion's den, and it had worked a little too well. Now that the day was here, she felt her heart trying to leap out of her chest. Her entire body tense, she tried to console herself that she was with her classmates, and the government class from their brother school was coming too. It was highly unlikely that out of everyone they'd single out. That they'd somehow find her.

Still, as she sat on the bus, she felt the telltale prickling at the back of her neck. The same sensation she felt every time she transformed. It was easy for the common métamorphe, their transformations simple and straightforward. But for protectors, there was a hole extra learning curve. A calling towards the ancient magic and extra abilities that developed after activation. She was still so new to this, so out of control sometimes, especially when stressed. Her current situation definitely qualified as _stressed_.

The boys from their brother school across the street finally got on the bus and it lurched forward. Marinette was taking calming breaths while Alya looked at her curiously, but her eyes were stuck on someone else entirely. He was impossible not to notice, with striking features, a shock of blonde hair and startling green eyes, but that wasn't what caught Marinette's attention. He sat tensely, somehow even more tightly wound than she was, and was rubbing the back of his neck. It could easily just be a nervous gesture, but Marinette suspected it was something much more. It reminded her of her own nervous tick, rubbing her chest when the urge to shift was just too much.

He turned then, as if feeling her eyes on him, and they locked gazes. The nervous prickling faded, replaced by an immeasurable warmth and she felt her breath catch in her throat.

She suddenly had the feeling of deja vu, like she'd seen those eyes a million times, even though she was sure she would have never forgotten a face like his. Before she could ponder their familiar gaze, the bus slowed as she looked out the window.

They were here.

Shuddering to a stop, Marinette grimaced at the ostentatious glass and steel building, following as the other students filed off and into the pavillion, just steps off the crowded pedestrian street. Out front was an austere looking woman with a huddle of security guards staring at the approaching crowd menacingly. Marinette forced her feet to keep moving until they were all gathered within listening distance.

"Welcome, to the métamorphe Readjustment Agency. We are very excited to welcome you all here today. You are the leaders of tomorrow, and here at MRA, we are dedicated to making out city a safer place for all."

"Oh, so that's why the métamorphes all disappear. You're just making them 'safer'." Marinette heard the grumbled comment and subtly looked over, not surprised but validated in her suspicions when she saw it came out of the mouth of the blonde boy. A bespectacled boy next to him nudged his arm to be quiet and they shared a secret grin.

 _What was his deal?_ Marinette tried to discreetly observe the two, but got a nudge of her own from Alya. She gave her an eyebrow wiggle noticing the direction of her gaze and Marinette just rolled her eyes with a smile, turning to pay attention to the woman up front.

"We'd like to give you a _full_ display of our agency's capabilities today including each facet of out mission statement. Discover. Recover. Readjust. Now, if you'll all just follow me, I'll show you the simplicity of the first. Discover."

The woman's heels clicked as she turned and started leading them all to a turnstile that allowed entrance to the building. Everyone seemed to surge forward at once, but Marinette got lost in the shuffle. Before she knew it, she was towards the end of the line, Alya having raced to the front, chatting eagerly with two overly excited teachers. Marinette huffed, watching them ooh over some kind of technology.

"Now, just place your finger here," the woman instructed Ms. Mendeleev. "You'll feel a slight pinch, but it's nothing to be concerned about."

Marinette watched in horror as her teacher placed her finger on the pad and a sample of her blood was taken.

 _Human_.

The screen flashed brightly and everyone chuckled as if to say _obviously_.

There was just one problem. Marinette's result most definitely would not garner a chuckle.

She started glancing around in what she hoped was a nonchalant way, standing to the side of the line and pretending to try and get a better look, when really she was just letting others pass her and hoping to stall for sometime. Then her eyes met his, green orbs reflecting the panic she felt coursing through her own veins, and she knew he was doing the same thing. She didn't know who he was and didn't want to know, but right now, they needed to be anywhere but here.

When the line started to dwindle, and the teachers and security guards had all passed, watching the progress from the inside, Marinette made her move. She grabbed his hand and almost dropped it immediately, his skin seeming to buzz against hers. One look over her shoulder, and she pushed that reaction to the side for a moment, yanking him towards the sidewalk and disappearing in the crowd of the business center of the city. She pulled him along behind her, absently cognisant of the bizarre feeling that the world seemed more vivid the moment they touched, until she noticed an alley along the side of the building. She pulled him there, peeking around the corner quickly to make sure no one was watching them.

Looking back at him, she racked her brain to figure out if she'd seen him before, berating herself for forgetting one of the faces she was tasked with protecting. Then again, a part of her knew that wasn't it. One glance at those emerald eyes that seemed to make the air between them vibrate with some unnamed energy, and it would have been impossible to forget him. That left her only two options: he was a protector like her, or some anomaly. The likelihood of her just happening to stumble upon the other protector was slim, but him being some rogue métamorphe that slipped Fu's notice didn't make sense either.

Before she could ponder it further he finally decided to speak up.

"What do you think you're doing?" He tried to sound indignant, but Marinette could tell he was as rattled as she was.

"Saving your ass," she responded, looking back at him. Her heart fluttered when she found his eyes watching her so intently-and definitely not from fear- but she pushed that to the side. This was not the time for one of her romantic daydreams. They needed a plan.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Look, blondie-"

"Adrien," he corrected automatically, but his eyes held a bit of amusement at her nickname. She cringed. She didn't want a name. She was already on the verge of breaking so many rules, and sharing identities was a definite _no_ between métamorphes. That went doubly for protectors. She could _maybe_ pass off this interaction to Tikki as her protecting one of their own, but in order to do that, she needed this to be as anonymous as possible.

"Adrien," she repeated, berating herself for how much she like the sound of it, but refusing to give her own name. "Let's just say I've never failed a test in my life and neither of us were prepared for that little pop quiz."

She watched as his eyes dawned in comprehension, and cursed. He hadn't quite put the pieces together on his own yet, but she just did it for him.

"You-How did you know?"

"I don't, nor will either of us confirm it, but right now we have bigger problems. Like explaining our sudden absence."

Marinette was rubbing her temples in agitation when she noticed his mischievous grin.

"The two of us, alone in an alley? I can think of a few explanations," he wiggled his eyebrows at her and she groaned.

"God, I don't even know you and you're already insufferable."

Adrien grinned wider at that and leaned in closer. Then, out of the corner of her eye, Marinette noticed the boy's teacher, Mr. Damocles, passing the alley.

She didn't have time to warn him, but they reacted at the same time. She reached up and grabbed his sweater as Adrien leaned in fully, kissing her with an intoxicating and infuriating slowness that had her clutching his sweater for dear life. Suddenly, she forgot that she was in a grungy alley in fear of her life and that one, probably two, teachers were marching towards them right now. All she knew was Adrien. All she felt was the maddening pace of his lips.

"Mademoiselle!" She was jolted back to reality by Ms. Mendeleev, her tenor indicating to Marinette just how much trouble she was in, but she honestly didn't care. It was either this, or being "discovered" and "readjusted" by the MRA. That would be a field trip no one in her class would forget anytime soon. Although, stealing a glance back up at the blonde boy with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, she knew this wouldn't be a field trip _she'd_ forget anytime soon.

Her teacher just pointed towards the mouth of the alley, and Marinette abashedly disentangled herself from Adrien and went to walk in that direction.

"I'm calling you a cab, and you can explain to the principal exactly what this little...adventure was about."

"Wait," she glanced back and saw Adrien trying to see around his massive teacher. "Wait! I didn't even get your name!"

He called to her, and Marinette had to stifle her laugh at the horrified look on her teacher's face at her improper behavior. Kissing a boy during a school-sponsored function was one thing, but they didn't even _know_ each other? The scandal!

Ms. Mendeleev parked Marinette on the curb and whistled for a cab, muttering the whole time about youth and their lack of decency.

Once settled against the worn leather seats, the door shut against the cold, Marinette looked back out the window and past her disapproving teacher. The last thing she saw as the cab pulled away was Adrien's shy smile as Mr. Damocles hurried him into a car of his own, likely towards a similar punishment.

Marinette lifted her fingers to her mouth, still tingling from his kiss, and couldn't help but giggle. She'd almost been discovered, but then that kiss...Well, maybe she was delusional or high on adrenaline...but that kiss had been worth it.

"Adrien," she whispered his name again, like the forbidden fruit it was, and smiled, relishing this moment before reality set back in.


	3. Chapter 2

Adrien caught her eye as the cab pulled away and managed to smile. She looked away quickly, but he could have swore he spotted the hint of a blush as it caressed her cheeks. Even as Mr. Damocles tried to herd him forward, he was stuck in place. Then he slapped his palm to his face in agitation over his own stupidity. Why hadn't he gotten her name? Sure, if he suspected correctly and her cryptic statement meant what he thought, then it was better she remain nameless. He'd always hated that rule-and if Plagg's attitude was anything to go off of, then he did too-but Adrien understood the reasoning. Still, it had stopped Adrien from blurting out his own.

It was dangerous to be like they were. Even more dangerous to be like _he_ was. A protector, or at least in _training_ to be a protector, he guarded their community, never getting too close, and yet...until today he swore he knew the face of every métamorphe in the city. He was supposed to, at least. Not those of the protectors of course, but the odds of her being one of them were stacked against him. And if she wasn't a protector nor part of the community...He stopped, unwilling to consider what that meant.

She had saved him. She had risked someone knowing what she was to protect him. That had to count for something.

If he'd have been discovered… Well, his father sure as hell wasn't going to protect him, and Adrien shuddered to think of all the people he'd put in danger.

He knew Plagg's identity out of necessity. He was his mentor, teaching him how to control and best utilize his powers and his shifted form. They both happened to be black cats. That wasn't a necessity between mentor and mentee, but apparently it often happened. Plagg had said something about the balance of qualities between all the chosen protectors being important, and shifted forms having some correspondence to those qualities, but then his mentor got distracted by something. The next time Adrien brought it up, Plagg just rolled his eyes and told him to ask the Master, it was his area of expertise. Plagg was just there to make sure Adrien didn't accidentally leap off a building and kill himself. Cats don't _actually_ have nine lives, you know.

Adrien cringed. That was another person he had put at risk by offhandedly giving his name away. Most trainees didn't meet Master Fu, but Adrien had. Apparently, the elder had been very adamant about the selection and training of the next group of protectors. All Fu had provided was that he felt something stirring and felt very strongly about the integrity of the next generation of protectors. What he felt stirring and in what, Adrien had no idea. Plagg didn't say, but Adrien wouldn't lie: It made him feel important. He'd spent most of his formative years motherless and the son of an emotionally absent father. Being specifically chosen for this role made him feel useful and necessary for the first time in his life.

And thinking of the other new protectors, yet to be chosen for all he knew, Adrien couldn't help but hope one was her. His lady savior.

 _His Lady_.

Adrien smiled. He liked the sound of that. He was probably stupid to have given his name, but something about her just made it slip out. Plagg was going to kill him later, but...That kiss. And if she was actually like him? Actually a métamorphe? Maybe even a protector?

He had to find her.

As his teacher deposited him into the cab, he immediately reached for his phone and started searching. All he knew was that she went to their sister school, was his grade, and that she had the softest hair and clearest blue eyes he'd ever seen in his life. He was texting Nino, hoping beyond hope that maybe with his best friend's much more extensive social connections that maybe Nino knew her, when he saw the message from Plagg.

 _Meet tonight? The boss has news._

Adrien re-read the message ten times, time blurring as he tried to decipher the deliberately cryptic wording, and before he knew it, he had been deposited back at school. He paid and left the cab, starting the agonizingly slow march to the principal's office, but he wasn't worrying about how he would explain. There were some benefits to being a straight-A student who also excelled at almost every extracurricular. People weren't easily convinced that he had somehow also been a troublemaker.

No, he spent that time silently freaking out over something else. _The boss_ had to mean Fu, but he had never asked them to meet before with _news_. What was going on? Plagg's text has almost been...polite, which freaked Adrien out even more. Since when was his mentor _polite_?

He walked up the stairs and knocked on the principal's door knowing he had other things to focus on right now, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was most definitely wrong; something that would make today's "close-call" at the MRA the least of his problems.

* * *

It was around one in the morning when Adrien leaped up the fire escape and onto the roof where he and Plagg usually met. When he turned, he felt the hair on his back stand on edge as his ears flattened against his head. They weren't alone. He looked and found Plagg, his head cocked and eyes glinting impishly.

"You did better than I expected," he remarked, and started licking his paw.

"We're not alone," Adrien stated bluntly, but it felt like more of a question still waiting Plagg's approval.

"No duh, kid," he rolled his green eyes, almost the exact same shade as Adrien's though more emerald to his sage. Plagg's eyes were so green, they were almost other-worldly. Otherwise, they were practically identical, except times like these when Plagg assumed a self-assured posture while Adrien looked like the scaredy-cat he really was. Regardless, he stayed rooted in place.

"Alright, enough games," Adrien looked over and saw a hawk, perched so still he hadn't even noticed his outline in the darkness.

"Did he really not warn you, love?" He looked to the left and saw a fox creep around the corner. He took a tentative step backwards, but he was already on the ledge of the roof. There really wasn't anywhere to go, and Plagg was being supremely unhelpful. As always.

"Be nice to the newbie, quesito."

The last voice sounded as clear as the rest, but Adrien couldn't place its owner. He looked around frantically before settling on Plagg. Then he stopped. He'd never seen his mentor with that look in his eyes before. There was still a heavy shield of sarcasm, but he gaze had softened as he looked in the direction of the open air.

"Hey, cookie. Nice of you to buzz in for a second."

"I will hurt you."

A ladybug floated down and landed on Plagg's nose.

"You always threaten that, and yet. Here I still am. Alive and well."

"And don't make me regret it. Now, hush. We have more important things to do," the woman's voice broke off the banter as the other looked on with amused expressions. Adrien had finally calmed enough to realize they were not enemies, and actually the rest of the protectors. He glanced around, taking them all in. The ease in which they all moved, betraying no hint of the auxiliary powers he knew each possessed. They were beautiful, and for some reason, Fu thought that one day he could be one of them.

Then his mind changed tracks. His lady! If all the protectors were here, she might be too!

He looked around again. Only two voices had been female, and one definitely had some history with Plagg, so he was willing to guess that the ladybug wasn't His Lady. Then looking at the fox...He just didn't get the feeling that that was her either. Her voice had been wron; British if he wasn't mistaken.

"I'm here!" Another voice squeaked from above, and with his enhanced eyesight, Adrien could just make out the silhouette of a bumble bee in the moonlight. Another woman, but he cringed. That couldn't be her, the voice was much too nasally, and while his Lady had been confident and forceful, this voice had managed to sound...disdainful. LIke it should be their _honor_ she deigned to come at all.

He'd made his way over to Plagg's side at this point, and sunk into a lying position. Disheartened.

Maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe she just had as much a grudge against the MRA as he did and refused to even enter the building.

But then, she said something about being discovered… He let out an annoyed huff. The only other option was that she was one of those groupies. Thos people who were in underground clubs trying to protect métamorphe rights without actually knowing anything about them to begin with. He frowned, trying to imagine the fierce brunette fighting for his kind. There were worse things, he supposed. At least she wasn't the opposite. Being Gabriel Agreste's son, he'd dealt with enough MRA fanatics for one lifetime. The irony of who he was and what his father did didn't escape him, but he was getting off topic. The point was she wasn't here. She definitely wasn't a protector and she probably wasn't even a métamorphe.

"Good, all accounted for!" the ladybug squeaked.

"But-"

"No," she cut off whatever Plagg was going to say. "We're all here."

The two stared at each other, having a silent conversation before Plagg relented. He nodded, imperceptible to anyone else, but Adrien had devoted enough time to reading his microexpressions to notice there was more between these two than the rest of the protectors.

Then the ladybug went on to drop a bomb on them all. Adrien unfortunately had been right. The "boss" had been Fu, and Fu's "news" had not been welcome in the least. After thirty minutes of alternating stunned silence and whispered conversations, they all slinked off in opposite directions, with promises to meet again in two days once they all had time to digest what was going on. Adrien started to leave when he noticed Plagg wasn't following. He turned, but Plagg swished his tail and jerked his head at him.

"Go home, Kid. Get some sleep."

He nodded, not having the energy or current mental capacity to argue that his mentor should do the same and instead jumped from their roof to the next. He was mentally exhausted from the information that had just been dropped on him, and more than a little depressed that the girl from this morning turned out not to be who he'd hoped. Not only that, but from what Fu's message relayed, a whole new, and very likely, possibility had arisen making her the _worst_ person he could have slipped his identity to.

Not a statique, but not one of _their_ community either. Adrien was so dead if Plagg ever found out.

Turning to look at the retreating form of the protectors in the distance, he sighed dejectedly. How could he have been so careless? And for what? Some teenage infatuation he'd thought was some special _connection_? Some hopeless romantic thought that the world seemed brighter when she was there? The hope that there was some kind of physical _spark_ between them?

Using his enhanced abilities, he speed his way home in desperate need of his bed and the oblivion of sleep. He had to forget about her.

He had a feeling that would be easier said than done.

* * *

Plagg watched Adrien fade into the horizon, impressed with his comfort in his shifted form for one still so new to this life. He'd never tell Adrien, but he took to his new reality much quicker than most. Plagg worked him hard because he knew Adrien was capable of more, but he was already more fluid in his transitions and more in control of his abilities than even some of the older protectors. He was genuinely curious to see what other abilities the kid would start to develop, but that could take up to a year, so they'd just have to wait and see. He was already well on his way to being much more powerful than his mentor.

That was when a bug landed on his nose, deliberately tickling his snout and flying away just before he sneezed.

"I hate when you do that," he muttered, pawing at his nose to itch it.

"Serves you right. I _told you_ I didn't want anyone to know about my mentee!"

"Well, yeah," Plagg agreed. "That was before Fu's news. She should have been here, cookie."

"Not yet, she -they-I cleared it with Fu, and he agrees it's best that they new kids don't meet yet. And you're not even supposed to know about her, so zip it," she huffed. Ladybugs shouldn't be able to huff, but somehow she managed. "And don't call me cookie."

Plagg grinned.

"Fine, Tik-" his words were cut off as she effortlessly shifted in front of him, covering his snout with her hand. It effectively cut off his words, but it also cut off his oxygen supply. Watching as she glanced around in paranoia, he shifted himself, displacing her hand and taking a deep breath.

"God, pinky. Let me breath."

"Just don't say my name out here, _or_ while shifted," she glared up at him, but Plagg just rolled his eyes, used to her indignation at this point, even if her adherence to the rules was pointless between them.

"Fine," he agreed readily and was rewarded when her eyes narrowed even further.

"I should have never told you my name," she grumbled looking out at the cityscape. "Look where it landed us."

"Ah," he stood next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "But we were young and in love."

"We were stupid," she retorted, but leaned into his side. He smirked, but she wasn't done. "Are stupid," she corrected. "We're lucky Fu wasn't the stickler for the rules he pretended to be."

"I know," he responded to the familiar argument and let his sarcasm fall for a second.

"Seriously, pinky. Is your girl alright? What is Fu planning?"

He watched as Tikki just shook her head, her brow furrowing. Tikki would get flashes of a vision now and then, not exactly the future she wanted to see, but the future she needed to see. He knew it was her least favorite ability. After all, he'd been there the first time it happened, and then watched an hour later as what Tikki described came to pass: their fellow protector trainee snatched by the MRA right before their eyes. It wasn't the most encouraging start to her seer abilities. To this day, they still made her uncomfortable, and if she saw something that had to do with her mentee...well, the parallels there were enough to scare the shit out of anyone.

"I don't know...My vision... she's powerful," Tikki looked up at him. "And it's not just her. I feel it in your boy, too. They're more powerful than we are, but if he's anything like she is, then they're too young and clumsy. They're the key to this-either our salvation or our undoing- but I don't think they're ready. I don't know if it's possible for them to even be ready."

Plagg stilled under her proclamation and watched as Tikki's eyes flashed from their normal amber to the radiant blue of when she was seeing something. Tikki's powers tended to seep through whether she was transformed or not. It wasn't uncommon, occurring mainly in protectors with more mental abilities, and most would kill to have such freedom, but he knew Tikki hated it sometimes. She more than anything wished her human body could be an escape from what she saw, but of course she had no such luck. Neither did he, but then his visions always seemed less jarring. The past was solid, unmovable. For some, that tended to be easier to face than the changeable future.

"They'll meet their fate together," she continued, her eyes finally settling on one color.

"What does that mean?" He met her whiskey gaze and she just shook her head.

"I don't know, but we need to stall it. We need more time to prepare them."

"Meaning?"

"We need to keep them apart," Tikki's eyes flashed again, her eyes contrasting as starkly as their two potential outcomes.

"They can't meet."


	4. Chapter 3

Marinette buzzed around the rooftop of the abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city practicing her newest power: creation. Tikki had been surprised when it manifested, claiming to have never seen anything like it and shocked that Marinette was already accessing an ability so powerful. Tikki warned her to be careful, but Marinette felt the power crawling beneath her skin, transformed or not, and just needed to try it out. So she'd fled to her new favorite spot.

Wedged between the Seine and some railroad tracks, it was close enough that she could fly home quickly, but far enough that there were few people and a lovely lack of CCTV. The entrancing beat of trains along the tracks melded with the calming river tumbling by, punctuated every so often by a train or fog horn. Marinette welcomed the background noise as she concentrated.

Tikki had canceled their practice last night, and while she had loved the chance to sleep in, Marinette woke up restless with a need to shift. Luckily, it was a Saturday, so with the excuse of heading to the library, she was out the door, transformed and in the skies an hour after she woke up.

She'd found this building by mistake a few weeks ago. Technically, she wasn't supposed to use any of her abilities without Tikki supervising, but her curiosity got the better of her. When her gene had first been activated, she had been terrified, thinking a terrible mistake had been made. Marinette had a choice, of course. She didn't _have_ to transform if she didn't want to. She had the ability, but if she chose not to, that would be the end of it. Fu made it very clear to her that while he came to find her, having felt her gene stirring for weeks, she was under no obligation to transform more than the first time. There was no stopping an activated gene, but after that first shift, usually between the ages of 15 and 18, many métamorphes went through life transforming only a handful of times, aware of the danger surrounding their kind.

But of course Marinette hadn't chosen that, and when Tikki explained that they were asking her not only to shift, but to be a protector, she felt her uncertainties fade away. She felt the calling in her very blood, and despite being explained all this by a strange man and a woman who a second before had been a ladybug, Marinette knew it was right. She was still terrified, but it didn't feel like a mistake. It felt like this was who she was meant to be.

Ever since that first transformation, Marinette felt almost more comfortable in her shifted form than in her human form. She knew it could be dangerous, and it was all so foreign to her still, but Marinette felt compelled to practice and be better. She shifted until it was second nature and flew so fast until she was practically invisible in the air. Everytime she tried to push the boundary of what she could do, she only felt her power grow. Tikki told her to take her time, saying her full powers wouldn't manifest for a year, but Marinette wanted to be prepared. She didn't like feeling out of control, and while these powers could be exhilarating, they could be scary at the same time.

That statement basically summed up her life since becoming a protector. She loved her new reality, but if yesterday was any indication, it wasn't a game. Her powers came with a very clear, very deadly, caveat. Still, the benefits seemed to outweigh the drawbacks, especially lately. She shifted and walked over to the ledge of the roof, looking out at the river.

She brought her hand to her lips for what seemed like the thousandth time and let herself get lost in the memory of the day before. That kiss. Adrien...

She shook her head, trying to clear the haze from her mind. No. That couldn't happen. She shouldn't even _know_ his name. She shouldn't have ever pulled him out of that crowd. For all she knew, he wasn't actually a métamorphe, but now he knew _she_ was one. It wouldn't be that hard for him to figure out her name, and if he revealed her…

Then she remembered the fear in his eyes, and she was suddenly certain that he was no statique. She just wasn't sure if that made it better or worse. Tikki would be furious if she found out Marinette had shared her identity with anyone, even a member of the métamorphe community. The protectors were supposed to be nameless, faceless guardians. She'd already royally messed up the faceless part.

She groaned, hanging her head in shame. Why did he have to be so adorable then? His face was all of her weaknesses rolled into one package and his touch was like fire. His name felt like velvet falling from her lips, and his kisses… But what did she know? Marinette's interaction with boys had been rare to say the least. She started at her all-girls school at thirteen, and while it was her choice to do so, it limited her interaction with the opposite sex to basically her father and whatever customers she served at the bakery. Needless to say, she wasn't a smooth-operator romantically. Then her destiny as a protector of the métamorphes was realized, and whatever boy drama she fantasized over had been put on the back burner.

She wasn't dead. She still noticed a cute boy when she saw one, but with her innate awkwardness piled on top of the small issue that was her secret life, dating had been the least of her worries. Then she saw him. He definitely qualified as a cute boy, and yet, that wasn't what initially struck her about him. She'd barely had time to think about it in the moment, but his eyes had seemed shockingly familiar. Suspecting as she did that he was a métamorphe, she wondered if it had something to do with that. An established connection between their commonality that sought the other through a sea of statiques. Subconsciously, she knew it was more than that. She hadn't felt that familiarity with Tikki, but there was no other rational explanation. He wasn't a statique, he wasn't a known métamorphe, she doubted he was a protector, so what other explanation was there?

Maybe this was all just in her head. Maybe it was the rush of adrenaline, her body recognizing one of her own in danger and reacting to save them both. Some latent protector instinct. She probably shouldn't have exposed what she was, but she really hadn't had an option. The alternative was that either one or both of them would be dead, and she wasn't about to save herself and leave him to that fate. Still, she was so new to this life and she'd somehow managed to break the cardinal rule and mess up so colossally already. Now she had a cute boy walking around Paris somewhere with the knowledge to ruin her.

"Ugh, why am I such a mess," she let her head fall into her hands.

"Maybe because you're training without your mentor? Against her _express_ instructions, might I add."

Tikki's sounded next to her, startlingly Marinette as she lost her balance and tumbled off the ledge. She transformed effortlessly, zipping back up to the rooftop and shifting back to come face to face with a human Tikki who just leaned against the wall to the stairwell with a serene smile on her face.

"Nice catch," she remarked.

"Thanks," Marinette muttered, but she watched Tikki's face soften.

"I'm sorry about last night. I know you're used to transforming at least once a day, we should have just had practice earlier."

"No, I should have waited. You're right, though. It was strangely uncomfortable being stuck in my skin."

Marinette rolled her shoulders, remembering the constrained and restless feeling with unease. Tikki just smiled sadly.

"Yeah, it's like that for a while. When you first start to transform, you can feel uncomfortable in both skins to the point where your body is going to want to switch between the two at random intervals. Fighting it is good practice at controlling when you shift."

Marinette winced, feeling like she'd failed a test, but Tikki came over and rested her hands on her shoulders.

"I couldn't go more than a day without shifting for the first three years," she whispered. "I think 36 hours is amazing. You're doing great, Marinette."

She looked seriously into Marinette's eyes and the latter relaxed, focusing on this new challenge Tikki had unknowingly issued her.

"So what was the emergency?" Marinette changed topics, turning back to the reason they had canceled practice the night before and just barely noticed the uneasy look that flashed in Tikki's eyes.

"You don't have to tell me. I mean, if it's about your civilian life… I don't mean to pry," Marinette quickly added, interpreting Tikki's look as reluctance to share. She saw Tikki so often, she practically felt like an older sister. Tikki knew everything about Marinette, but in reality she knew very little about Tikki's daily life. She suddenly felt like she'd imagined their closeness. Marinette looked away, trying to give Tikki an easy out of this conversation.

"No, no. I need to tell you," Tikki waved her off. "And no," she looked at her in amusement. "It's not about my _civilian_ life. It's métamorphe matters. I'm just not sure what to make of it yet."

Tikki went to sit at the center of the roof and Marinette followed suit, her relief at Tikki's response quickly replaced by concern as she noticed the woman's worried expression and the shadows under her eyes. Tikki was clearly losing sleep over this.

"What is it?" Marinette whispered, feeling frightened of the answer, but knowing Tikki needed prompting or they'd sit in silence forever. She waited, watching how her mentor's short pixie cut hair ruffled lightly in the breeze, its midnight strands contrasting her caramel skin that shone softly in the afternoon light. When Tikki looked back at her, Marinette watched as her golden eyes flashed a deep blue, not too different from her own, before Tikki seemed to come to a decision. Marinette had seen her kaleidoscope eyes before, but Tikki always brushed it off as a side-effect of her seer powers, as if reluctant to say more. Marinette recognized the pain course through her expression every time, and wondered what horrors Tikki must see for her to react so palpably. She never asked.

"He's back."

Marinette blinked, before leaning back and sitting up perfectly straight.

"You-you mean-him? _Him_ him?"

Marinette was reluctant to even say his name. Tikki had told her about the string of murders Hawkmoth caused, of course. It was the reason for the founding of her _beloved_ MRA. _The corruption and destruction of Paris' citizens_. Hawkmoth had gone activating people's métamorphe gene only to kill them, absorbing their power and their form. It made him impossible to find. How could you track someone with abilities unknown who could shift into any number of a hundred forms? Yet, the protector team had been created for the exact purpose. That was what Marinette had signed up for when she'd accepted this new reality. Still, when Tikki nodded her response, Marinette had to gulp past a sudden knot in her throat.

"But," she started again, her voice sounding young and unsure even to her own ears. "I thought you said no one had seen him in years?"

"Well, that's not strictly true," Tikki ran her fingers through her short hair. "We've had one of us tracking him, or at least trying to track him, for the majority of the last decade. The thing is, he's been radio silent for more than a year, so we had assumed the worst."

Marinette nodded, remembering what Tikki had told her about past métamorphes. Ever since the advent of the MRA and their blood-testing abilities, it wasn't exactly unheard of for them to disappear. It had even happened to a protector not too long ago. That was the time before the MRA was the known power it is now. Tikki had been the first new recruit chosen; Karina had been the third. A fox, like her mentor, she was clever and resourceful. Inquisitive and fierce. Tikki hadn't known her name until she was taken, but she still spoke of the young girl with a fondness; clearly still affected even so many years later. Marinette could only imagine how the girl's mentor had felt when Karina disappeared. It had awoken them to the dangers of the new agency designed to destroy them. From that point on, the protector team would meet on occasion, but always shifted and never exchanging names or personal details. It was too dangerous. Marinette had been a protector for the better part of a year now, and still had met no one besides Tikki and Master Fu, and even that was uncommon. Tikki had worked alongside these people for ten years, without ever seeing their faces. It seemed so lonely.

"But," Tikki continued pulling Marinette back to the present. "Fu got a message from him the other day, making it undeniably clear that our Hawkmoth problems are not a thing of the past."

"Has he-," Marinette gulped. "Has he killed again?"

Tikki looked up towards the fading light of the horizon and gave a humorless laugh.

"I honestly don't know if that would be better or worse," she remarked quietly, almost to herself as she shook her head. Then she looked back at Marinette. "He's amassed an army, Marinette. He's creating an army of métamorphes, and we think...We think they're coming for Paris."

"What?" Marinette looked into Tikki's dire eyes, trying to reconcile what felt like a story from a sci-fi novel with her reality. "But why? Why now?"

"He's finally decided to put his powers to...more productive use. Apparently he's been spewing anti-statique rhetoric and even those he's forced into his army are eating it up. He has some kind of...influence over them."

Tikki looked at her with an expression she didn't quite comprehend, but it made Marinette feel like her mentor was apologizing for something that hadn't even happened yet. Then her eyes flashed blue and Tikki cringed. In that moment Marinette had the undeniable feeling that Tikki was seeing her, just not the Marinette that sat in front of her.

"Tikki-"

"Don't," she cut her off. "I can't...Not yet," Tikki finished cryptically, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, before they opened and she looked at Marinette in the present, her gaze once again golden. "Just, don't panic. Be vigilant and train. It will be okay."

Tikki attempted a reassuring smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes as they regarded her mentee with concern. In that moment, Marinette knew without a doubt that the vision had been about her, and it had not been of her frolicking through a park somewhere or basking in the sun on a beach. Hawkmoth was back, and Marinette couldn't shake the feeling that the timing of her initiation into the protectors coincided a _little too perfectly_ with his reappearance.

"Don't panic. Right," Marinette repeated and just stared at her, her breaths starting to come in short gasps for air. She tried to concentrate on slowing the beat of her heart and smiled back at Tikki, the boy troubles she started the day with the furthest thing from her mind….

 _Boy troubles_.

 _Hawkmoth's army._

She thought of Adrien, her inexplicable métamorphe boy, and felt her heart drop at what this new information could mean.

Maybe he wasn't inexplicable after all. There was now a very obvious explanation staring her straight in the face, no matter how badly she wanted to reject it.

She was most definitely panicking.


	5. Chapter 4

Adrien woke up much too late on Saturday. The events of the day before knocking him on his ass, he'd made it home and passed out in bed for over twelve hours. That was how at four in the afternoon he awoke to an already setting sun and Nathalie, his father's infuriatingly loyal assistant, ripping the covers off of him and demanding he shower and get ready for his father's event.

Yes, another one.

It seemed the party last month celebrating his father's promotion was only a small get together of his fifty closest "friends". Now, there was an official gala to celebrate the newly appointed head of the MRA.

Yipee! He got to celebrate _again_ that his father was the big man in charge of the agency trying to kill him. Adrien loved some good irony, but going to honor an organization that would like nothing less than the mass extinction of his kind was taking it a _little_ too far.

He rolled dramatically out of bed, sending a sardonic look towards Nathalie's retreating form before shuffling across his much too large room. Then, he slid into his bathroom and actually followed Nathalie's instructions.

An hour later, washed dressed and admittedly feeling more alive, he leaned against a marble column in the foyer of his family home and waited for the car to arrive. Decked in his perfectly tailored tux, that he got too much use out of for a sixteen year old, he fidgeted with the silver ring on finger. Plagg had given it to him not long after his first shift in a rare moment of complete sincerity, an heirloom passed to Plagg from his mentor. Adrien heard the horn sound from outside and sighed, resigning himself to another car ride of solitude followed by his main act of the perfect son at an event to celebrate his emotionally-absent father. He looked back down at his ring. Plagg may be a sarcastic snot, but he was downright warm and fluffy compared to what Adrien was used to.

As the car made its way down the street, Adrien realized he'd started to get used to it: the feeling of belonging to people. The feeling of family. That's what scared him the most last night. He'd resolved himself to the threat of the MRA long ago, but last night Hawkmoth turned from a cautionary tale meant to make him train harder into reality, making him realize how fragile and vulnerable his new family really was.

And here he was giving his name and identity as a métamorphe out to random girls. Well, not girls. One girl. One _cute_ girl, with eyes more mesmerizing than the ocean mirroring a cloudless sky and hair the color of ink at midnight, but a stranger nonetheless. He'd put everyone at risk, and he couldn't let it happen again. She knew his name, but he knew her face and where she went to school. Despite the advent of new knowledge probably placing her allegiance far away from his own, he was still holding onto the hope that because she was a métamorphe, she had as much riding on the safety of her identity as he did.

He shook his head, trying to dislodge his remaining worries and slip into his dutiful son costume. He looked out the window at the receiving line and winced. He honestly missed the days before his father had worked his way up the ranks of the MRA. When his mother had died, and father first took the job, he was just a low-level scientist at the company. Now Gabriel was practically a politician, meaning Adrien was in the spotlight far more than he liked.

These events were always exhausting, and despite his hibernation the night before, Adrien was still drained. Nonetheless, he plastered on a smile and managed to get past the pleasantries at the door. Once inside, he started to make a beeline towards the hors d'oeuvres table when he stopped in his tracks as if encountering a physical blockade.

It was her.

She looked different, her hair pulled into a neat bun instead of pigtails and elegant in a slim black dress and crisp white apron at the waist, but it was undeniably her.

The girl with the sapphire eyes.

His lady.

* * *

Marinette hadn't grumbled about having to help her parents on a Saturday and actually had been looking forward to it. She loved spending time with them, but with the bakery booming and their new catering business blossoming, it seemed if she wanted that to happen, then she was going to be put to work. The girl didn't mind. With her extensive school schedule and secret protector training, Marinette was just as much to blame for their lack of family time.

So she helped, the morning fading into the afternoon as the prepared and packaged the food, the bakery filled with the sounds of her joking with her maman and singing horribly off tune to the radio with her papa. The back kitchen was always her favorite place; warm and pulsing with life, and not because of they were surrounded by ovens. It was who her parents were, and she dreamed of one day having a marriage like theirs. She tried not to dwell on how her secret identity as a species on the verge of extinction might affect that dream...or how a certain pair of green eyes was becoming more and more attached to said dream, despite her attempts to shove them completely from her mind.

Once they were ready, Marinette dashed upstairs to change into a server-appropriate outfit-a clean-cut black dress with a keyhole neckline and fitted skirt-before joining her parents and packing up the van. The venue had hired servers, but Marinette would serve as the organizer, knowing the correct presentation and order of the plates, while her parents prepared the remaining parts on site.

That was how she found herself standing in the lobby of the most glamorous hotel in Paris, surrounded by MRA seals and banners. It was a gilded version of her personal hell, but Marinette plastered a smile on her face as she directed the servers on how the dishes were to circulate and informed them of any potential allergy hazards. All through set-up, she managed to ignore the claustrophobic feeling the room gave her, but when the guests started arriving, it got harder. Being forced to smile at the people whose life's work was to cleanse the globe of her kind was slowly eating away at her soul.

The program said there would be a brief presentation before the guests moved into the main hall for dinner, and then Marinette would be free. She started counting the minutes until the cocktail hour ended and she could escape, hoping the nervous twitch her eye was developing wasn't as noticeable as it felt.

Then she saw him. As if a part of him subconsciously called to the essence of her very being, her eyes were drawn to the door the moment Adrien walked through. His ebony tuxedo was impeccably tailored to his body, gliding in long lines over his frame; not too tight, but clearly accentuating his athletic form. She only admired him for a split second before she felt his eyes on her, sizing her up as much as she had just done to him. A blush rose to her cheeks before she remembered exactly _who_ she was looking at and exactly _why_ she needed to keep her eyes to herself.

She watched a similar caution flare in his gaze, but when he moved to take a step towards her, she didn't look away. She stood motionless, her desire to be near him again undeniable. With every step he took, she felt the nervous energy that had been flowing through her quiet more. She still felt the hum of her shifting just beneath her skin, but for the first time that night, it felt grounded. She felt completely in control.

Her heart, was another matter entirely.

He had crossed half the room now. She should really look away. Or better, walk away. For all she knew, he could be the enemy. It was the most logical conclusion. She was done denying that he was a métamorphe, but she didn't know him. He wasn't part of their community and could easily be one of Hawkmoth's army. She shouldn't risk it. She _couldn't_. She'd already put herself-her friends-in too much danger.

But her feet wouldn't move. The closer he came, the closer she wanted him.

Suddenly, her tunnel vision seemed to dissipate, and she noticed another man striding deliberately towards Adrien. Her eyes flicked to him, his hair gray but immaculately quaft and his traditional tuxedo sporting the bizarrely quirky addition of a candy-cane striped ascot that did not match the man's sober expression or rigid posture.

Adrien followed her gaze and stopped dead in his tracks, the spell between them momentarily broken. With one last look of longing at her, he turned and walked at a decidedly slower pace towards the man. Marinette watched as they exchanged a rushed conversation in hushed tones, noting with sadness the way Adrien's eyes seemed to dim in the man's presence, although he still looked to him with strained deference and respect.

A waiter tapped her shoulder with an ingredients inquiry, and Marinette turned to deal with that. Ducking to grab napkins to replenish his supply before sending the waiter on his way, her attention averted when she heard an announcer take the stage, his booming voice over the microphone welcoming the attendees with a jovial tone that seemed inappropriate at an event for an agency that participated in a glorified version of ethnic cleansing. Just as the man announced and welcomed the guest of honor-Gabriel Agreste, the man that would be the new head of the organization-Marinette looked back towards Adrien, only to find him gone. She scanned the room with no success, looking back to the front of the room just in time to see the man with the striped ascot take the stage.

Her jaw dropped in realization that Adrien had been conversing with none other than Gabriel Agreste, new head-assassin of the MRA. She took an involuntary step back in surprise.

She thought she'd saved him the other day. After so much doubt, she'd finally felt sure that he was like her, yet here he was, cavorting with the enemy. Had she been so wrong? Was he not even a métamorphe at all? If he were, why was he associating with the enemy?

Then, just when she thought it couldn't get worse, she tuned into what Agreste was saying and had to brace herself against the table.

"-new state of the art technology. Under my care, every agent will be equipped with the new device. While the range is only about twenty-five meters, I assure you the effect is startling and, of course, not harmful at all to humans. How about a demonstration!"

She watched in horror as he motioned towards the side of the stage and a young boy in a cage was wheeled in. The crowd murmured as Agreste pointed the device in the child's direction and smiled as he morphed clumsily into a frog. The audience gasped and Gabriel seemed to have them enraptured, but Marinette felt tears come to her eyes as she looked at the frog. The boy was probably in his early teens, but looked no more than ten. She didn't know where he came from or why his gene activated so young, but she could only guess he'd been captured from Hawkmoth's army. Still, he was just a child, clearly new to his powers, and here he was, being treated like an animal.

Agreste turned his device on the audience. They started to twitter uneasily, but Gabriel plastered on a charming smile.

"Nothing to worry about!" His eyes took in the room, seeming to look at everyone and no one. "It's completely harmless to humans!"

Then, to demonstrate, he turned it on and started to sweep it along the crowd. Marinette felt her skin start to crawl and realized she was much too close to the stage. Her eyes darted around in a panic, but it was no use. The only door out of the room was directly in the line of the device. She could duck under the table and transform, but there were too many eyes. If not the guests, at least the waiters would notice that she was there one moment and gone the next.

Running out of time and giving up hope of options, she felt a hand wrap around hers and her skin stopped buzzing. She turned and there he was.

Adrien.

Peeking out of a door camouflaged by an inset in the wall, he looked as relieved to see her as she was to see him.

"Come with me!" He whispered, and she didn't ask questions. For all she knew, he could be an informant of Agreste, but she was out of options. Following him without a word through the door, she just hoped it led to safety.


	6. Chapter 5

Adrien knew he was in trouble the moment he saw his father. He looked...gleeful. It was indecent.

Although, for once, Adrien was grateful to his father. His face was certainly a shock to his system, pulling Adrien out of whatever stupor he had fallen into the moment he'd locked eyes with her. It was bewildering, the effect she had on him just by being in his proximity. It felt overpowering, but not frightening. Invigorating. As if his normal day was in black and white, but she turned it to color.

Nino always said he was a sap. He'd never believed it until that moment.

Then his father stopped him, his face stoic as always, but his eyes dancing. He placed a hand on Adrien's shoulder, shooting him a practiced smile Adrien had to fight not to return. His father could be a charming man, there was no denying that, but Adrien knew better after all these years. Gabriel's honied words we backed up by a vicious sting should you cross him.

His father wasn't the only one who could play that game, though.

"Father, congratulations again," Adrien nodded his head in the deferential manner he knew Gabriel liked and his father lifted his chin in pride.

"Adrien, good of you to come, son. Please find a spot up front. You won't want to miss the demonstration."

His father's eyes took on a slightly maniacal light that shocked Adrien so much he broke his rule of making conversations with his father as short as possible.

"Demonstration?"

"Yes, the IER. The inhuman exposure ray," his father smiled and Adrien had to force himself not to roll his eyes. Of course he had another acronym.

Just then, the light shone on the stage, and a portly man walked up to the microphone. His father's attention was diverted and he quickly left without another word. Typical.

Adrien, of course, did the opposite of what his father requested, choosing to stand at the back of the crowd. That's where Nathalie found him. Gabriel took the stage to polite applause before starting in on a standard speech about what an honor this promotion was. Adrien watched with bored eyes, tuning it all out.

"I saw you father talking to you," Nathalie leaned over to whisper. "He must have told you about the new device. It really is a marvel. A true game-changer for the MRA. You must be so proud."

Adrien glanced over at Nathalie, confused as to why she was initiating this conversation with him. They spoke only when necessitated, and the assistant had more than once made her dislike of Gabriel's "ungrateful" son clear. Adrien didn't express the fanatical devotion to the MRA-to his father-that she did, clearly making him a disappointment to the Agreste family name. Meanwhile, Adrien found her unquestioning loyalty to his father concerning to say the least. Needless to say, there was no love lost between them. Regardless, he took the bait.

"Game-changer how?"

"They can't hide anymore," she grinned at Adrien wickedly before striding off in a flurry, her heels stabbing the plush carpet dangerously with every step.

 _They can't hide anymore_.

Adrien replayed her words, his heart starting to race at what her tone implied. Then he focused on what his father was saying, and stopped breathing.

Without a second's hesitation, he sought her out. His lady. She was exactly where he'd last seen her, but this time her blue eyes didn't captivate him. He was too focused on the sheer panic in them, like an animal caged for slaughter. Any doubts fled from his mind. He didn't care if she was a part of Hawkmoth's army. She'd saved him once without question, consequences to herself be damned. Now it was his turn.

He slid from the rear of the crowd and rushed to the service entrance hidden behind the potted plants in the corner. He said a prayer of thanks for his longtime friendship with the hotel-owner's daughter as he navigated the passage with ease. Finding the door he was looking for, he pried it open and immediately felt his skin start to buzz in anticipation of his transformation. Fighting against it, her reached out, finding her hand exactly where he expected.

"Come with me," his frantic whisper escaped, but she didn't hesitate, her fingers interlocking with his as he pulled her through the door. He felt an instant reprieve at the touch of her skin. His body seemed to calm and the crawling sensation of his shift disappeared. As the door closed behind them, she let out a sigh of relief, neither releasing their hold.

They stood in the darkness of the passage, surrounded by mops and the concentrated citrus scent of cleaning products, but neither spoke, both waiting for the inevitable ray to strike.

It didn't come.

"Who are you?" She whispered, breaking the silence. The darkness blinded them both, but somehow he could imagine her face perfectly. He'd only met her twice, each encounter briefer than the last, yet he could vividly picture the way her eyes would narrow into azure shards and her nose would crinkle, scattering her freckles in ever changing constellations.

Shit, he had it bad.

Her grip on his hand didn't lessen, and he cleared his throat, trying to form a coherent sentence.

"Sorry, I just-um...Well, I didn't think either of us would mind missing that show."

He reached up to rub the back of his neck anxiously with his free hand, waiting for any sign of her reaction as he strained to see her face in the darkness.

"No, I thought I was going to...well, until…"

She trailed off and squeezed his hand. A jolt went through him. So it wasn't just his imagination. She felt it too. The way his body seemed to quiet under her touch. How her very proximity made his inner métamorphe calm yet strengthen simultaneously. He felt his power swell, but he'd never felt so in control of it at the same time. As if she were a magnifier and stabilizer at the same time.

"So," he lightly cleared his throat, pushing through the emotions that came with realizing he was right all along. Still, he needed to hear it. "So you're a...you're like me, then?"

He still couldn't say it out loud, the taboo of this moment too ingrained in him to risk saying the word. She sighed, and he felt her shrug through their linked hands.

"There's really no point in denying it anymore, is there? I'm dead if anyone finds out this happened, though," she muttered the last part to herself, and Adrien leaned closer, desperate for any information that contradicted what he suspected, but all arrows pointed to only one conclusion.

He'd be dead too, of course. Plagg always seemed disdainful of the anonymity rules, but he enforced it, knowing that it kept Adrien and the rest of them safe. But she wasn't one of the protectors, and maybe her version of _dead_ was a little more literal.

"And of course," she let out a humourless laugh. "You are the _last_ person I should be having this conversation with. Similar... _situation_ or not."

He gulped as she just piled on the evidence against her innocence. Still, he had to ask.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you earlier. You seemed very cozy with the enemy," she scoffed, but her voice held a note of fear in it at well. He replayed her words, a glimmer of hope peeking through, until he realized which _enemy_ she was referring to.

Not Hawkmoth. The MRA. His father.

"Oh. _Him_ ," Adrien sighed. His father had a talent for impacting all corners of his life. He really shouldn't be surprised at this point. "I assure you I'm not _cozy with the enemy_ , as you put it. Unfortunately, it's a little difficult to completely avoid my _father_."

The small room went silent, but he felt a shock go through her.

Then she dropped his hand.

In an instant his body was on fire, the feeling of a forced transformation he hadn't experienced since his very first shift coursing through his veins. A soundless gasp escaped his lips before he couldn't fight anymore and shifted. He watched, body twitching in agitation, from his now lower viewpoint as the hazy shadow of the girl disappeared completely.

His enhanced vision flicked around the room desperately, but there was no trace of her. He started to panic. What had his father done?

* * *

Marinette was spooked to say the least. Tikki told her she was the first new recruit in ten years. Ruling all other possibilities out, she already suspected that he was working for Hawkmoth, but the son of the head of the MRA too? She really knew how to pick 'em.

She couldn't help it, dropping his hand like an electric current ran straight from his mouth when he uttered those words through their intertwined hands. Then the fire started, and she felt her form shrink until she was the size of a pea. Through a herculean effort, she managed to float to land on a nearby shelf before collapsing as the agony of her body being forcibly shifted took over completely.

It hadn't felt like this since the first time. Tikki had warned her then. She'd suspected what her shifted form would be, it was one of the reasons why she was her mentor, and Tikki knew first-hand how painful it could be.

It was different for them. Each shifter had his or her own drawbacks, but most were shifting from one mammal to another. Nothing in Marinette's two physiologies matched, and on top of having to basically rework her entire being, she also shrank to one percent of her human size. It wasn't easy and it could be painful the first few times. Shifting back hadn't been a picnic either, and yet now both forms had become so much a part of who she was, the idea of just _not_ shifting was unfathomable.

Over the months, Marinette had shifted constantly until it was second nature. Until changing was as easy as breathing. She conditioned herself, determined to never feel what she had that first time again, but the moment she dropped Adrien's hand, there it was. The tightening of every ligament in her body. The burning as her very bones disintegrated. She lunged for his hand in desperation, begging for salvation, but it was too late. He was gone and her body wasn't hers to command anymore.

Laying on the shelf, she finally caught her breath. Stretching her legs and fluttering her wings a bit, she sighed in relief. It was fine. She was in control again. Blinking away the haze in her vision, she tried not to dwell on the violation of what just happened and looked for Adrien. She sought out his eyes, and found them glowing green through the veil of darkness, scanning the room for her too.

"Your father?" She repeated, her voice still breathless and pained. She watched as the hair on his back stood on edge and realized he couldn't see her. He tried to focus in on the direction her voice came from and responded.

"Yeah. Are you okay?" His voice was soft, almost apologetic and ashamed, and she realized he couldn't be in league with his father. In that moment, he sounded even more trapped than she was. And if Hawkmoth found and turned him knowing who his father was...he was just a pawn in this senseless war. Yet, his eyes...She'd never seen kinder eyes. Even now, having probably gone through his own painful transformation, and confronted with the accusation of somehow betraying his own kind and having MRA sympathies, he still stared towards her with concern.

He may be working with Hawkmoth, but she was the ass here.

"Yeah," she cleared her throat. "It just hasn't felt like that for me in a while. I thought I'd never feel...that again."

She fluttered her wings again just to prove to herself that she was whole, and her eye caught his movement as he took a step forward, a narrow shaft of light from under the door gleaming just slightly off his form. She gasped.

"You?"

His head cocked, clearly not understanding, but she started to buzz, hovering over the shelf slightly. It was the cat from last month. The one she'd pummeled into so hard she'd had a bruised forehead for a week. Her powers gave her some invulnerabilites, but they apparently didn't preclude harm when crashing into a cat at the speed of light.

"Wait," the cat's eyes narrowed into slits. " _Now_ you recognize me? Like this?"

She hovered motionless, trying to figure out how to respond. She'd really told him too much already. He knew her face, but that was it. He hadn't seen her shifted form yet. She could leave now, tell Tikki everything, and that would be that. She'd just have to ignore the urge to protect him. Forget the way his soul seemed inexplicably connected to hers.

Then she heard maman's voice.

" _Marinette? Tom, did you see where she ran off to? I need help clearing…"_

"Shit," Marinette cursed, flying over towards the door carelessly, the glow from outside illuminating her for the first time.

"The other ladybug!" She heard him breathe and cursed again. So much for maintaining any modicum of anonymity.

"Wait," she turned to look at him. "Other?"

Just then, a shadow submerged them back into darkness and the handle to the door rattled. Panicked, Marinette shifted back to human, breathing in relief as she no longer felt the menacing presence of the MRA's device, just in time for her mother to open the door.

"Mari?" She squinted into the dim room. "What are you doing in here?"

"Um...I'm…" her eyes darted around for any excuse and then met Adrien's. She grabbed him, earning herself a surprised hiss as she held him up towards her maman like a prize. "Look at this cat I found!"

Her voice was a little too loud, but her maman just looked at her in amusement, used to her daughter's eccentricities.

"Very nice dear," she walked over and scratched Adrien's ears affectionately. Marinette had to stifle her snort as he nuzzled into her mother's hand. "So sweet, but I'm sure he's a mouser, so put him back and help me clear, would you?" She smiled over at her daughter, kissing her forehead before turning and letting the door close behind her.

She turned the cat around and Adrien nestled more securely into her arms. He blinked slowly up at her and she wasn't sure whether to laugh or roll her eyes.

"You're pathetic," she stated but he continued to blink languidly and this time she did roll her eyes.

"So, Marinette, huh," tha cat spoke and she jumped, barely containing her screech of surprise and dropping him. Thankfully, he landed on his feet.

"Um, me- _ouch_ , M'Lady," he shook out the length of his body in agitation before he froze, his eyes turning to meet hers. "Wait. You-you can understand me?"

She nodded, and couldn't deny it anymore. This was impossible. Everything between them was impossible.

The way she felt for him already, the strange affect his touch-his proximity-had on her, and now being able to hear his transformed voice...It was undeniable. It was impossible, but it was happening. Any métamorphe could communicate while shifted, and of course a human could speak to a shifted métamorphe, but the other way around? Never. They'd evolved to protect against that. To keep statiques from hearing them and discovering that they were no ordinary animal. No human, even with an activated métamorphe gene, had been able to understand a shifted métamorphe in centuries. Maybe longer. Even Master Fu didn't have that ability.

Yet, she'd heard him. Something was...different between them. Something was going on here…

" _Marinette…_ " her maman's voice called again, on the verge of irritation now, and Marinette cringed, beyond confused by the developments of the night, but out of time.

"Meet me. Tomorrow. On our roof," she rushed to whisper before opening the door to the main room.

With one last look at Adrien, she saw him nod before the door closed between them and she could only hope he'd understood.


	7. Chapter 6

When they finally got home, unloaded the truck and shelved everything in its proper place, Marinette was beyond exhausted. Then she looked at the clock and groaned. Kissing her parent's goodnight with a smile, she didn't have to act at all as she trudged sleepily up to her room. Except, instead of fulfilling her heart's desire and flopping unceremoniously into bed, she closed the door behind her, transformed, and was flying out the window and into the night to meet Tikki for training. They'd switched to night sessions when Marinette had fallen asleep in one too many classes after a morning of training, but she couldn't decide which was worse. Honestly, she was a mess regardless.

Marinette got to the rooftop where she and Tikki usually met and transformed back to wait for her mentor. Not five minutes later, Tikki showed up, buzzing around Marinette's head before coming to land on her nose.

"Hey," Marinette tried, hoping for an audible answer. Tikki buzzed off impatiently, swinging back and forth and clearly waiting for Marinette to get the hint and transform. Finally her mentor gave up and shifted.

"Uh, Mari? Hello? We're here to practice."

Tikki gave her a strange look and Marinette opened and closed her mouth, trying to figure out how to ask what she was dying to know without giving herself away. How could she tell Tikki what had happened without digging her hole even deeper or worse, having her mentor ban her from seeing Adrien? She wouldn't...at this point she didn't know if she even could...but Marinette didn't want to have to go against Tikki's wishes.

Better to ask forgiveness than permission.

"Were you talking just now?" Marinette blurted out and Tikki narrowed her eyes at her in exasperation.

"Yes, Mari. Practice," Tikki spoke slowly and deliberately, looking at her chosen in confusion. "What has gotten into you?"

"No, I mean when you were shifted. Were you talking to me?"

"Nothing I care to repeat," Tikki grumbled, but then her face turned concerned. "Marinette, what's going on? You look freaked."

"No!" She said a little too loudly before trying again. "No, I mean, I was just curious, like, if that was possible."

Marinette restrained herself from cringing at the very obvious lie, but Tikki just shook her head.

"No, we can't communicate with humans while transformed. I could have swore I told you that already? It's a protective mechanism, so no one accidentally finds a talking ladybug and either captures it or kills it for being a _handmaiden of lucifer_."

Tikki smirked at Marinette and the girl managed a snort at the inside joke between them, even though the answer made her feel like doing anything but laughing.

When Tikki was first telling her the history of the métamorphes, Marinette had felt like a two year old. Tikki would tell her a new bit of information, usually ending with a new form of persecution by the statiques, and nearly every time Marinette would counter with " _But, why?"_. Tikki would just shrug and give the common answer-witchcraft, demons, sacrilege, etc-but Marinette had burst out laughing when Tikki finally lost her cool and screamed " _Because clearly we're the handmaidens of Lucifer!"_ It had been a joke between them ever since, and Marinette knew Tikki was trying to get her to smile by using it now, but she still had so many unanswered questions.

"But, were we ever able to?" Marinette prodded and Tikki sighed, sinking into a sitting position and preparing for what clearly was going to be a longer conversation.

"Not in recent memory," she shook her head and leaned back onto her hands to look up at the night sky. "There are legends of métamorphes communicating with statiques while shifted in the past, even falling in love that way-where do you think the Princess and the frog comes from?" Tikki looked over and winked at her before continuing. "But if it was ever possible, it isn't now. Why?"

"No reason," Marinette hurried to answer, but she could tell that Tikki was even less convinced than she was.

"Marinette," she hedged, her eyes turning wary. "Did you speak to a statique while transformed?"

"No," Marinette answered immediately, truth ringing in her voice and grateful that not everything she said to her mentor tonight would be a complete lie. Adrien had been the one transformed. He had spoken to her, not the other way around, and neither of them were statiques. Tikki seemed to relax at her response.

"Princess and the frog, though, huh?" Marinette grasped, desperate to change the topic. "That was my favorite growing up."

"Me too," Tikki smiled fondly. "There are a few other legends, but that's the one that got converted for the masses. Of course, history has forgotten the métamorphe part deciding it was true love's kiss that had transformative powers, but I think that takes away the real romance."

Tikki sat back, seemingly lost in a memory. Marinette was relieved to have the scrutiny off of her, but too curious not to ask.

"What do you mean?"

Tikki smile widened.

"When I was new to all of this, I used to spend hours with Master Fu. Reading through the vast library that held our history-the ones he let us touch anyway. Not exactly orthodox, I know," Tikki held her hands up in surrender towards Marinette's shocked expression. "But I didn't exactly have anywhere else to go. Home had never been a place to me-at least not a stable place- so I clung to it in the people I found I could trust. Master Fu is one of them."

Marinette regarded Tikki then, absorbing this new facet of her friend and her relationship with their guardian. Tikki always spoke of the man fondly, Marinette just never realized how close they had been.

That seemed to be a theme with her mentor. Every bit of new information Tikki revealed about herself seemed to confound Marinette at first. She was the most optimistic and caring person Marinette knew, yet Marinette knew her life couldn't have been rainbows and sunshine all the time. No one with Tikki's amount of discipline and adherence to the rules was like that because life had been easy. Marinette never asked, the rules of anonymity with other protectors confusing the lines between her and Tikki, but she felt like after months of seeing Tikki everyday, she should know more about her friend's history.

"We'd sit there reading the legends for hours, but the stories of fated partners always struck me the most," Tikki's eyes turned wistful as she continued and Marinette sat completely engrossed. "Our history was filled with it: two people finding each other. An inexplicable magnetism drawing them together, centering their abilities in a way most people never experienced. Their connection severed all boundaries that limited the rest of us-including verbal. The legends were always very specific that these connections, these soul mates, were not necessarily amourous partnerships, but the idea had always seemed intrinsically romantic to us."

Marinette absorbed the shock of her words as they touched on everything she'd felt with him.

Every. Single. Thing.

But that was crazy. These were just legends and soul mates were the talk of fairy tales. There had to be another explanation. A _rational_ explanation. Otherwise, she was in even deeper with the enemy that she'd realized.

Then she focused on Tikki's words and focused in on her use of the words _us_ and _we_. The look on her friend's face made it very clear she wasn't referring to their elderly guardian, and it made Marinette wonder if maybe she wasn't alone. Maybe her friend had broken a few anonymity rules herself.

"Us?" Marinette prodded, leaning in and Tikki turned to her with an amused look.

"Another protector and I-well, we were both mentees at the time. We-" Tikki broke off, looking away from Marinette and choosing her words carefully. "We both didn't have anywhere to go. Misfits, in a way, and Master Fu's became our haven," she trailed off, smiling at the memory. "I think those first few years I lived more of my life as a ladybug than a human. That was Fu's stipulation," Tikki hurried to add, looking down at Marinette seriously. "We had to remain transformed when we were together, and no names."

Marinette leaned back then, disappointed that she'd allowed herself to get her hopes up. Even if there was some inkling of romance between Tikki and this other protector, her friend was a stickler for the rules and had been as long as she'd known her. Tikki would never break them.

As much as Marinette craved to confide in someone, she knew what Tikki would say. It was dangerous. _He_ was dangerous, but her mentor just didn't understand. Marinette barely understood it herself, but she couldn't give him up. She wouldn't. Even if he was the enemy.

Maybe he just didn't know there was another way. If he was a métamorphe and thought he was alone, fear itself would be a strong enough motivator to bind him to Hawkmoth. She just had to convince him to trust her; to leave the dark side as it were.

"Right," Marinette muttered to herself. "No names. Got it."

"Marinette…"Tikki stared at her worriedly and Marinette waited, watching her eyes carefully and hoping she didn't foresee some future Marinette couldn't explain. When they stayed golden, Marinette let out a sigh of relief.

"So, practice?" She changed the subject and shifted without waiting for Tikki's response, effectively leaving no room for argument.

At least not with Tikki.

* * *

Adrien trained for hours with Plagg, exerting his extra human-extra feline?-strength to the max and pushing past boundaries he'd previously lost hope of surpassing, but his mind was elsewhere.

With her, to be exact, but what else was new? It was all that had consumed his waking hours since she'd left him.

"Alright kid, fess up," Plagg paused and shifted back into human. Adrien did the same. "What's eating you?"

Adrien sighed, knowing he couldn't tell Plagg the whole truth, but not bothering to deny it.

"It's about yesterday," he replied vaguely, letting his mentor come to his own conclusions. Plagg just nodded.

"Oh, daddy dearest. Your old man really is a peach, you know that?" He walked over to the edge of the building and carelessly plopped onto the ledge, his legs swinging out over the street twenty storeys down. Adrien sat next to him, a bit more cautiously and leaned back, away from the abyss.

"I heard about that stunt he pulled yesterday," Plagg broke their silence again. "I wasn't going to ask, but…"

"It felt like the first time," Adrien admitted, not daring to look at his mentor but he felt him flinch next to him. Even after all these years, it wasn't something Plagg had forgotten. Adrien had felt it twice now, so forgetting had ceased to be a possibility for him. "But that wasn't the worst part. He had this kid, Plagg. I don't know where he found him, but I'd never seen him before. I can only assume he is...was part of Hawkmoth's...army," he choked out the last word and forced himself to look at his friend.

"He was so young...Maybe thirteen at the most? Younger than I thought possible for one of us. How is he recruiting them? Do you think," Adrien edged, Marinette's face coming back to the forefront of his mind. "Do you think he's forcing them? That he has some kind of power over them?"

Adrien looked hopefully at his mentor, begging for him to say _yes, they're all being held against their will._ At least then he could rationalize it in his mind. She wasn't a bad person; she was just forced into a situation with no escape. He could help her then. What he felt wouldn't be wrong.

Plagg just looked away, his eyes pensive as they reflected the lights of the city.

"I wish I could say yes, kid. If the boy you saw was that young, then he'd more than likely be terrified and probably manipulated. It's possible that he _does_ have some kind of power over his army, but some people...Well, some people are going to agree with Hawkmoth even without their arm being twisted. When you have to choose between a life in hiding and walking in the sunlight...No one chooses to be oppressed, and with a past like ours, it's reasonable to be angry."

"But you're not," Adrine studied his effortlessly calm friend and watched as Plaggs eyes narrowed.

"Of course I'm angry," Plagg looked at Adrien seriously. "Anyone who's not angry isn't paying attention. I'm just not stupid enough to believe war is the answer to our problems. Life is never perfect, kid, and one day I hope you don't have to hide who you truly are anymore, but if we go around killing every person who's different than us-every person who doesn't agree with us-then we're no better than the MRA," Plagg shook his head in disgust. "Living in a world of only métamorphes might be easier, but it would be like living in black and white. Being able to be different and still coexist is what gives life color. It may not be easy, but it's never boring."

"Then wouldn't it be better if we didn't have to fight our own kind, too?" Adrien grasped at Plagg's words. "What if we could convince them that there's a better way? They can't all be bad."

Plagg paused, regarding him cautiously.

"You're right," the man admitted hesitantly. "They can't all be bad, but let's not forget that there's a possibility that they all made this choice." He lifted a hand, laying it lightly on his chosen's shoulder as he spoke his next words. " It's more than likely this will end in a fight. Your empathy does you credit, but if it comes to it, and it's us against them, you protect _you_. Do you hear me, Adrien?"

Adrien flinched, the force of Plagg's words emphasized by his rare use of his name.

"I'm sorry," Plagg sighed, dropping his hand and looking back out towards the city. "We don't know their situation, and the last thing I want to do is fight people being forced to fight back. Just promise me, if it comes to it, you won't be so focused on saving _them_ that you forget to save yourself."

Adrien just nodded, not quite trusting his voice to hide his lie.

Because her face was all he saw and he wasn't sure he could promise that.

After a few moments of silence, Plagg stood and offered him a hand up. Clapping him on the back once, he told him to do their usual lap once more and then they'd call it a night. Adrien managed a smile before transforming and getting to work

Plagg shifted and followed, but not before Adrien caught his worried stare as it followed him off into the night.


	8. Chapter 7

Marinette had been pacing on the roof for almost an hour and was starting to give up hope. She'd been stupid to think he would come. For all she knew, he'd immediately run off to Hawkmoth and Marinette would be as good as gone come morning. This wasn't some fairy tale. She wasn't the Juliet to his Romeo...not that that was a great comparison to strive for anyway. Still, she berated herself for buying into the romance of the star-crossed-lovers trope.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…" she paced in a circle muttering to herself.

"Oh good, so is not just me feeling that way," a voice sounded from behind her and she spun, immediately angling herself in a defensive stance at the surprise.

"A—about myself, of—of course," Adrien hurried to explain, his hands raised in surrender and an adorable blush spreading across his cheeks.

 _Dammit,_ Marinette thought, her walls lowering instantly even as her mind reminded her she was probably in the presence of the enemy. Even if she didn't have this inexplicable connection to him, this boy was too cute for his own good. For _her_ own good.

"You showed up," she said, surprised despite her hope that he would.

"Well, a few times, actually," he raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, his eyes meeting hers and then darting away just as quickly. "You didn't exactly stipulate a time, so I've kind of come…"

His voice trailed off in a mutter, but she could have swore he said _once an hour_. If her heart hadn't already melted at the sight of him, is was now a permanent puddle.

"Oh!" She exclaimed and looked down at her feet. "I just assumed since we met here the first time at night-"

"No, that makes complete sense! I just wasn't thinking-"

"No, I should have been clearer-"

"I thought maybe earlier because some ladybugs are diurnal but others aren't-"

"What?" She broke off her nervous rambling at his comment, her brow furrowed in amused confusion.

"What?" He echoed, refusing to look her in the eye and she couldn't help but smile.

"You do know I human, right? You know how this all works?" She asked with a laugh in her voice. He looked up at her sheepishly and his blush was back again.

She was joking, but belatedly wondered how much he _did_ know. Marinette had Tikki to answer all her questions, but who knew how Hawkmoth operated? If Adrien was activated and then sent on his merry way, there was no telling what the boy actually knew about his own species.

"Right, of course!" He exclaimed, pulling Marinette back into the present. "I just-I mean, cats are basically nocturnal, but I was like that to begin with. I didn't know if maybe what you shifted into corresponded to your human habits, too?"

"Huh," she pursed her lips outward in consideration. "That's actually a really good point. I never thought of that."

"Thanks, I do have my moments of genius when I'm not talking to pretty girls and awkwardly fumbling over my words like and idiot," he smiled at her, his eyes twinkling for a moment before his face lost its color and he started to backtrack.

"Not that you're pretty! I mean," he cringed. "You _are_ pretty-Beautiful, actually-but that's not _all_ you are-"

Marinette watched him continue to stumble through his words and was amazed that she'd managed to find someone as much of a mess as she was. He'd seemed so suave, too suave, when they first met. The second time too, but now that their interaction wasn't fueled on adrenaline, he was just as much a bumbling fool as she was. Maybe even moreso.

"Adrien," she stepped forwards and grabbed his hand, the electricity that always seemed present between them humming at the contact. He took a breath and met her eyes. "I'm scared, too," she admitted and watched the tension begin to seep out of his shoulders.

"It's-a lot," he admitted, but held her hand tighter. "I don't know what's going on here. It's terrifying, and yet," he reached down and grabbed her other hand. "There's no way I wouldn't have shown up tonight."

She looked down at their interlocked hands, only marginally less dangerous than looking into his eyes, and wiggled her fingers between his.

"What is this?" She dared to look up again and lifted their hands up between them. "Do you-"

"I feel it," he assured her and took a step closer. "And despite everything-Despite the...challenges between us, I can't convince myself that it's a bad thing."

She nodded, understanding exactly what he meant as much as she understood his reluctance to verbalize it.

The _challenges_ between them.

The sides of the line they stood on.

"Do you know what it means?" He looked down at her, his voice soft and eyes a gentle green in the moonlight and Marinette clammed up.

She did know... at least, she suspected. Tikki had told her the legends, but how was she supposed to look into his gorgeous face and blurt out that apparently they were soulmates? How was she supposed to say that out loud knowing there weren't just _challenges_ between them by insurmountable obstacles? He wasn't the boy in the cage the other day. He was sixteen, old enough to realize that a man planning-at best-the complete subjugation of statiques probably isn't the guy you back with your loyalty.

But looking at the boy before her, she failed to believe that she was seeing the whole picture.

Maybe he just needed a way out.

Maybe he was grasping for her hand as much as she was for his.

Maybe he'd done it to hurt his father. She saw the thinly veiled tension between the two, it wouldn't be inconceivable to think he'd joined Hawkmoth to rebel and got in over his head.

She took a step away and released his hands. The world turned a bit duller as she put some distance between them and wrapped her arms around herself in comfort, but she needed a clear head.

"My...friend," she hesitated over what to call Tikki before continuing. "She knows a lot about the legends of our kind. We're not unique-"

"I beg to differ," he interjected and she rolled her eyes at him, though was pleased to see a bit of his mischievous personality shining through.

"But," she continued, walking away and towards the ledge to look out over the city. "Apparently no métamorphes have been able to communicate like we can for generations. I mean, like I _think_ we can," she amended turning fully away from him.

"Oh, we can," his voice responded after a moment, but she didn't turn to respond. It was all spilling out now.

"I mean if we _could_ communicate like that, and everything that happened on Saturday wasn't just a fluke, apparently that means we were fated to be partners or…" She trailed off, not able to say what she truly meant.

"Partners or…" he prodded her and she jumped, his voice coming from right next to her now even though she hadn't heard him move at all. She spun, her eyes searching for his, but they weren't where she expected. Her gaze travelled lower and lower through the unoccupied space next to her until she finally saw him, a black cat at her feet.

"Soulmates," she breathed out, not able to deny it anymore. Saturday _definitely_ hadn't been a fluke.

He was silent, his eyes just as potent in his shifted form as his human.

"I mean," she hurried to continue when he didn't respond to her admission. "It doesn't have to be in a _romantic_ sense. We could be, like, platonic soul mates. Like _friend_ -mates…"

She trailed off, sounding as ridiculous as he had a moment ago, and gulped as he shifted back right in front of her. Her eyes followed his until she was looking up into them instead of down.

"Makes sense," Adrien said finally, grabbing one of her hands and laying it on top of his own, palm facing the sky. He traced the lines of her hand with his finger sending tantalizing shivers through her body. "Every time we've been together I've felt more...grounded. More in control…"

"Like the world is more vibrant? Like you've found something that's been missing?" She responded, unconsciously taking a step closer to him as he raised his other hand to cup her cheek.

"I don't know about you," he whispered. "But I don't think I want to be _friend_ -mates."

His mouth was an inch for hers when Tikki's voice rang out through her head clear as a bell: her eternal moral compass. She tucked her head away from his.

"Wait, wait," she breathed out and he froze, not saying anything and waiting for her to guide the way.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" his eyes looked down at her worriedly, but she was quick to interrupt him.

"No! No, we just need to take a breath. This is all a lot, but the truth is, we're practically strangers," she said finally, taking a step away from him.

"But-"He took a step forward, pulled to her like the tides to the moon, but if he touched her again, she wouldn't be able to pull away this time. So she shifted, knowing this would be safer. She could control herself more. He raised an eyebrow, but smirked.

"Alright, alright," he raised his hands in surrender, seeming to blink through the haze they'd both been in from each other's proximity. "You're right. We're strangers, but let's fix that."

"What?" she blinked in confusion at him, which of course was pointless as her facial expressions were currently non-human and indiscernible.

"I'll sit right here," he shifted into a cat, stretched languidly and settled into the spot he had just been standing. "And you hover or land or do whatever ladybugs do over there and we'll talk," he tucked his front paws under his chest making himself into a chubby blob of black fur, his green eyes following her floating form intently.

"I _meow_ your captive audience, M'Lady," he cocked his head at her and she felt herself smirk. "I want to know everything."

She regarded him from a distance as if deliberating.

"Alright, Kitty," she came to land on his nose and laughed as he went cross-eyed before floating to sit a few inches in front of him on the ground. "You first."


	9. Chapter 8

It wasn't until the next morning that Marinette realized she had completely forgotten to meet Tikki for training, but at that point, she was too exhausted to care. Marinette wasn't a morning person in general, but today-despite the lingering high she was on from last night-she was functioning even worse than usual.

She'd fallen _up_ the stairs on her way into school, had managed to put her shoes on the wrong feet and then proceeded to open shut her locker three times before she finally had picked out the right combination of books needed for her first two classes and could trudge off to homeroom. Alya had taken one look at her that morning, turned around and walked out the door. Marinette hadn't had the energy to call after her and instead continued to barrel through her morning. A minute before the bell was due to ring, Alya finally bustled into the classroom holding two drinks: some bizarre caramel concoction that only Alya could stomach, and the largest cup of cinnamon cappuccino Marinette had ever seen.

She handed the latter to her and Marinette felt the inexplicable urge to cry.

"You're a goddess," she murmured, as much as to the coffee as to Alya who just watched her with a mixed expression of amusement and concern.

"Mhmm, drink up sunshine. I need you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed before I can interrogate you," she readjusted the glasses on her nose and smirked as Marinette looked up in shock. "Oh don't look so innocent, missy. The whole class was buzzing about how you were caught with a boy while we were touring the MRA. Here I've been coddling you when _clearly_ I should be taking notes."

Marinette winced. She'd been hoping to avoid this. Alya had taken a half day on Friday to take her sisters to some appointment, and Marinette had managed to keep busy enough to brush off her questions all weekend. She'd been an idiot to think she'd escaped it entirely. Alya may not be an employed reporter yet, but she could sniff out a story from a mile away and never forgot a lead.

The bell rang, and she gratefully turned her attention towards their homeroom teacher as she rattled off upcoming events and testing deadlines. Marinette listened in wonder, aweing over how not so long ago her biggest concerns were acing the TOEFL and getting recommendations for her portfolio. Now there was a madman planning to storm the city and kill most of her family and friends. Oh, and she had the hots for one of his soldiers.

Yup. That's her life in a nutshell.

Super simple.

The bell sounded again, and in a flurry, everyone was up, collecting their things and partnering off on their way to first period. Marinette walked next to Alya, feeling her knowing look the entire way and knowing she was just prolonging the inevitable. Still, she refused to meet her best friend's eyes and instead focused on the cacophony of swishing plaid skirts and the muted steps of penny loafers that shuffled before her in the hall. She was moving faster than normal, as if she could outrun Alya's questions, and was the first to walk into government class.

Except, she wasn't, because before her sat a sea of khaki pants, crisp white dress shirts and monogrammed sweater vests.

It was the boy's class from the field trip.

Her eyes darted around furiously, but couldn't find him. She wasn't sure if it was disappointment or relief that coursed cooly through her veins.

"Just take your seats, ladies," Ms. Mendeleev's voice rang out behind them and Alya managed to pull Marinette to the back, finding two seats along the aisle Ms. Mendeleev had designated as the divide between the boys and girls. She looked around the room once more and caught the eye of the boy directly across the aisle from them. His eyes were magnified abnormally large by a thick pair of glasses and his irises were a shockingly light hazel against skin the color of her cappuccino. She stared a little too long, something nagging at her, but she pushed it aside. Smiling slightly, she averted her gaze to her notebook, hoping she hadn't looked like a caffeine junky as her eyes darted urgently around the room. She was flipping through pages to find where her notes left off when a shock of blonde hair in the doorway caught her eye.

Girls moved around his frozen form, giggling and sneaking glances, but he stared only at her, his mouth quirking ever-so-slightly into a smile before he walked and took his seat next to the boy with the glasses. She couldn't help but notice the dark circles under his eyes that matched hers and suddenly she felt like smiling too, remembering the night before...well, that morning, actually.

She and Adrien had stayed on that roof until the sky lighten into dawn, and true to his promise, they just talked. The topics varied from the most mundane to the most intimate, and she'd left feeling like they'd been friends for years instead of acquaintances for days. He asked endless questions about what it was like growing up in a bakery, about her dream of being a designer, and she surprised herself by asking just as many questions, hanging on every word. As he described his passion for tutoring in an after-school program, his love for playing the piano, his strained relationship with his father and the death of his mother, his fight to go to public school and the compromise of the private boys' academy, she felt like she'd known him forever, and not just because of the strange connection between them. She'd felt like she could trust him. Despite the challenges between them, that they were both very aware of if not hesitant to address, he didn't feel like an enemy. He felt like a friend, while still feeling like something much more.

And yet, her _friend_ could have given her a warning that he'd be popping by because that _something more_ was doing dangerous things to her heart.

She stared at him with narrowed eyes, ignoring the way Alya and glasses-boy watched them suspiciously. He sat down across the aisle in the seat closest to her and she leaned over.

"A little warning?" She hissed and he had the gall to just smirk at her.

"I tried to, but I don't exactly know my way around here," he motioned towards the door he'd just walked through. "And excuse me, _Purr-_ incess, but it's not like I was given a number to call."

She huffed and stuck her tongue out at him earning her a hearty chuckle as he leaned back to settle into his seat. She looked away only to have a note, meticulously folded into an aerodynamic triangle shape, fall into her lap. She looked over at Adrien, but he was feigning obliviousness in the most conspicuous way, his eyes pointed at the ceiling and whistling slightly. She rolled her eyes, but opened the note to find a phone number.

"Problem solved," she heard him whisper across the aisle and was turning to look at him when the note was snatched from her hands. She spun in the other direction and found Alya's narrow-eyed glare and knowing smirk.

"My, my, my," she shook her head at her friend. "You really have been holding out on me."

 _If only you knew_ , Marinette thought, grimacing and opening her mouth to respond when Ms. Mendeleev called the class to order and saved her from having to lie even more to her best friend.

"Settle down, settle down," she looked back and forth between the two groups, pushing her hands in a downward motion through the air to emphasize her words.

"So," she continued once the din had quieted. "Last week's field trip was such a success—er—" her eyes darted to Marinette before looking at Adrien and narrowing further. "Mostly."

Marinette's face reddened immediately in an embarrassed blush and she felt a million eyes on her as her classmates all glanced in her direction with snickers. Alya nudged her with an elbow and winked.

"So, we decided to do a bit of an experiment: a cross course in government that will cover a variety of issues and will culminated in a debate."

A murmur went around the room and Marinette looked to Alya in confusion. There was no way Alya should know what was going on, yet her face held a devious smirk as her eyes darted over to Adrien and the boy sitting next to him. Marinette didn't know what she was planning, but she'd seen that look enough times to know a scheme was in the works. Past experience also told her there was a 72% chance she wasn't going to like it.

"The teams will consist of two from my class and two from Mr. Damocles' class. These groups of four will prepare and then debate against another group representing the opposite argument. Now," she clapped her hands, startling the teens out of their mix of excited and distressed whisperings. "I will call you up by alphabetical order, and you will pick a number out of this hat that will indicate your team."

Marinette looked at her teacher in confusion for a moment as the news set in. She took a breath and stopped herself from glancing at Adrien, instead settling her heart on the much more realistic hope of being paired with Alya.

Adrien was the first called up, followed by Alya, herself and Adrien's friend, with a smattering of other students in between. The numbers were enclosed in tiny envelopes, which seemed wasteful and unnecessary to Marinette, but Ms. Mendeleev was seeming to enjoy the small production she was directing and Marinette was loathe to get on her bad side again; she sat and waited for her cue to open it.

"Alright, now, if you would open your numbers and congregate by the corresponding number along the walls…"

Ms. Mendeleev's voice was drowned out by a scurry of movement and the ripping of paper. Marinette watched in amusement for a moment as heads looked down and then darted around the room, friends locking eyes and trying to convey their numbers and strangers craning their necks to see if the cute boy or girl was miraculously in their group.

Marinette turned her head to see _her_ cute boy doing exactly the same, but was dismayed when she held up her number and they didn't match. Adrien quickly turned to the boy in the glasses and Marinette to Alya, but they'd all gotten different numbers.

"To your groups, please!" Ms. Mendeleev called when no one had moved, and the students all stood in a mixture of joy and disappointment, the room turning into an impossible maze as they all tried to walk to their corresponding groups. Marinette shrugged at Adrien, secretly pleased that he seemed to be just as disappointed as she was, before turning to Alya only to find the girl out of her seat and on the move. A second later, her number was ripped from her hand, as was Adrien's and the other boy's. Marinette started to stand, moving slowly as she watched Alya's progress in awe. She spun through the still swirling masses, exchanging slips like the most elaborate political negotiation, seeming to pair people with the group they wanted while still getting towards the numbers _she_ wanted. And she did it all while remaining completely undetected by Ms. Mendeleev, who was mercifully distracted by a complaining student.

After what must have been at most two minutes, Alya returned, dropping matching 4s into all of their astonished hands and shooting Marinette a wink before walking to their allotted spot on the wall without another word.

Marinette smiled at Adrien and shrugged again as she walked past him to join Alya, but she was still close enough to overhear when his friend spoke to him in a low murmur.

"Bro," he looked over at Adrien. "I think I'm in love." His face was deadpan, but his eyes were following Alya. She averted her eyes then and smirked at Alya but heard Adrien laugh causing her heart to flip. She really needed to get a grip.

When she got to their spot and turned, the boys were right behind her.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe we're in the same group!" Alya enthused loudly, a hand placed over her heart in mock-surprise. Marinette saw Ms. Mendeleev's head whip towards them and fought to keep her face even as the woman scrutinized them with a scowl.

She looked back at the boy with the glasses as he did his best impersonation of a goldfish, opening and closing his mouth without a word.

"Nino also thinks it's an amazing coincidence," Adrien translated, his mouth quivering as he tried not to laugh at his friend. Nino just glared at him, a blush darkening his cheeks.

"Yeah," Nino's voice finally returned to him as he agreed with Adrien. "What a coincidence."

"What about you, Bugaboo?" Adrien turned to smile at Marinette and she suddenly understood Nino's predicament. "Good coincidence, or bad?"

He smirked at her, and she cursed the way her heart reacted to each new nickname. Wisely, she didn't even bother trying to speak and just smiled back innocently before looking away quickly. _Better to keep him guessing_ , she lied to herself. If the pounding of her heart was at loud to them as it was to her, the last thing she was being was _mysterious_.

"Okay, team!" Alya clapped and got their attention. Marinette noticed the impish grin she wore and how her eyes darted back and forth between her and Adrien and had to stifle a groan, trying not to imagine what she was planning. "How about some introductions?" She continued. "I'll start…"


	10. Chapter 9

Marinette sat at her desk doing research for their government debate. It came in five minute spurts of productiveness, followed by twenty minutes of daydreaming, and punctuated by checking the clock to see if it was time to meet Tikki yet, but it was _technically_ still progress. She had two pages of notes so far, but she didn't imagine the debates would be too hard. Marinette was definitely passionate about the subject. That was what worried her.

The groups had been paired off and given sides in a different debate. Some got to debate import-export laws, others the newest environmental protection policy, and even others the effectiveness of the current incarceration system. What did they get?

The MRA.

Similar to how the groups-well, _most_ groups- were picked, Mr. Damocles went around the room with a bowl, and a student from each paired group would pick a topic out of the pile. Adrien had stepped forward for them and, as if he attracted bad luck, he picked debating the pros and cons of the MRA. A few groans went through the room from his classmates, all knowing that his father was in charge of the agency and murmuring about how unfair it was, but his eyes shot to hers in an immediate look of concern.

"Well, we can't let you have an advantage, my boy," Mr. Damocles spoke, ripping Adrien's eyes from hers. "You're team will have to debate _against_ the existence of the MRA, then. Just don't tell your father," the man joked before moving on to the next group, but Marinette watched as Adrien's face went ashen.

Alya stepped forward to confer with the team they would be debating against, confirming the specific policies they would focus on, but Adrien silently moved to Marinette's side. Without a word, she laid the back of her hand against his, letting the comforting current flow through them and watched as he relaxed marginally.

"It's too close," he whispered to her cryptically without looking at her, and she understood. Arguing against the MRA was too close to her actual thoughts. A lot of people would be arguing against their true opinions, so they technically had some cover in this debate, but if they argued the wrong points, became too impassioned, or let the debate get too personal...It was risky. They were already the two kids who ditched the MRA visit, and the blood sampling that went with it. What they really needed to do was fly under the radar.

Marinette looked back down at her notes, willing herself to concentrate. It was still early to be doing research, but she'd decided that if she collected enough hard facts, evidence against the MRA for economical and political reasons, she would be able to temper her responses in a debate. She could respond with logic instead of emotion.

It was a long shot, since even just reading about some MRA policies and news was making her blood boil, but it was all she had to go on.

She had just picked up her pencil again when she heard a scratching on the skylight that led onto her roof balcony. She started to turn when her phone buzzed: another distraction monopolizing her attention.

 _You're welcome_.

The message was from Alya and strangely cryptic. Marinette picked it up to reply when the scratching sounded again and she walked over towards the skylight over her bed. Looking up, her eyes met a green pair, currently feline but no less familiar, and Alya's message suddenly made sense.

Shaking her head, she opened the latch and lifted herself up onto the roof.

"I'd ask how you knew where I lived, but…"

"Alya," he supplied with a chuckle and she smiled, amazed at how used to this she was already. It should be strange to hear his voice coming from the mouth of a cat. It was impossible in the modern world they lived in, and yet, it just sounded as natural as when it came out of his human mouth. One blessed difference was that she could ignore how attractive he was while he was a cat. Thank god, otherwise she'd really need psychological evaluation.

"But you can't _paw_ -sibly know _why_ I'm here," he sauntered in front of her, his tail flicking good-naturedly

"To spew horrible puns?" She guessed with a quirk of her eyebrow and he stopped moving, one eye flicking over to her.

"A- _mew_ -sing, _Purr_ -incess, but no."

"Oh, please enlighten me, then," Marinette smiled down at him and took a seat against the railing. Adrien started to chatter and she let her mind wander along the tranquil waves of his voice without actually paying attention. Alya must have texted him her address, but she wasn't upset. He was actually a welcome distraction.

They'd all exchanged phone numbers and had started a group chat to more easily prepare for the bi-weekly debates which would run the course of the rest of the semester, taking place in three rounds. They had been texting and discussing strategies most of the afternoon before Marinette finally turned off notifications for the chat, finding her stomach churning at the mere thought of the debate. She couldn't avoid it, and had started researching on her to help herself tackle her fears sensibly, but it was just another source of stress. Because being a hunted species, preparing to thwart a radical purist and starting to fall in love with an enemy soldier wasn't enough already.

She glanced over at Adrien and blushed realizing what she'd just thought, but she wouldn't deny it. At least...not to herself. She felt the attraction between them, and after last night? It was obvious that what they had was just as much emotional as it was physical.

Looking at her pacing kitty, speaking veritable gibberish with a smattering of puns as if he knew she needed distraction, she smiled sadly. He seemed too good and pure. She hated the thought of that being manipulated. Her eyes averted to her hands as she fiddled with her thumbs and tried to find one scenario in which this didn't blow up in their faces.

"You're worried," his voice sounded nearer and she looked to see him sat right next to her crossed legs. She wasn't startled this time, becoming accustomed to his cat-like stealth.

"Yeah," she responded, even though his statement didn't call for one. She reached down and absentmindedly scratched his ears, giggling when it resulted in an involuntary low purr. In an instant he was transformed, and a blushing boy sat in front of her instead.

"Um," he cleared his throat. "Yeah, so...that happened." He reached up to rub the back of his neck nervously and she watched intently how it made his white dress shirt pull tautly against his biceps. Now it was her turn to blush as she looked away, hoping her hair hanging loose around her shoulders did enough to hide the sudden color in her face. She stared towards the burning horizon as the sun started to hid away instead, collecting her thoughts.

"Mari?" He broke into her ponderings easily, like a diver into a tumbling river: not disrupting the surface, just entering the flow. She felt him settled next to her and allowed herself to lean ever so slightly against him.

"I am worried," she spoke finally. "About a lot of things, actually, but the debate doesn't help. I'm not great at tempering myself, Adrien. When I feel passionately about something, I speak out. My classmates know that about me. What if they recognize it in the debate?" She turned to look at him then, feeling her panic start to bubble and wanting to find solace in his eyes. He reached down and grabbed her hand. She immediately squeezed back.

"What can I do?" He looked at her, somehow reading all the fears she held secure within them. Not assuming he had the answers, he offered to help nonetheless. He was in exactly the same situation as she was, if not worse, but he sat there ready to be the anchor she craved, without platitudes or empty promises. He held her hand and stared unwaveringly into her eyes and she knew they were in this together. She may be falling in love, but she refused to believe it was with the enemy.

"You're doing it," she assured him, and gave his hand another squeeze, closing her eyes and concentrating on their mixing energies. She felt his hand come up to cup her cheek and she leaned into it before his forehead came down to lie against hers.

"I know it's scary. I know with everything-the new threat of the MRA device, the division between métamorphes, this _thing_ between us, and now this debate-it seems overwhelming. I mean...at least I feel…"

"I'm completely overwhelmed," she cut him off, opening her eyes and staring into that sage gaze of his, seeing the tightly contained panic slightly slip through their practiced and usually indiscernible depths. He smiled slightly, seeming to take heart in her words and angled his head so their noses brushed, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"It's a lot, but I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. You're not alone," he smiled softly at her. "I've got you, bug."

She laughed slightly at the new nickname, amazed by how the small word seemed to warm her entire being. She turned her head slightly, making her nose rub against his and angling her face even closer before responding.

"I've got you too, chaton," she whispered back, feeling him lay a hand on her thigh to steady himself as he leaned in further, but stopped a hair's breadth from her lips.

"I know it seems kind of sudden," she felt Adrien whisper, his lips moving in an agonizing rhythm against hers. "And it's kind of danger-"

She closed the distance between them, not able to stand his politeness for another second if it separated his mouth from hers. The moment their lips touched, he unfroze, moving his hand from her cheek to wrap around her waist. Displacing the hand on her thigh, he pulled her to a kneeling position and gripped the more stable railing behind her. Her hands, however, were entirely focused on that much too neat hair of his, threading upwards from the nape of his neck and scratching his scalp in her fervor. He seemed to purr into her mouth, but moved closer, wedging her delightfully between his body and the cool railing at her back.

He pulled away a far too abridged eternity later, gasping for breath but still impossibly close; their chests heaving as one. He let his head fall towards her again and she instinctively tilted her head up, lifting a hand and pushing his hair out of his eyes. She was savoring the way he leaned into her palm when suddenly he cried out in surprise. Before she could even blink, he was ripped from her arms and sprawled on the ground. She turned, springing to a defensive position in front of him, her eyes instantly zeroing in on their attacker.

Her heart stopped.

"No…"


	11. Chapter 10

Tikki paced the length of the roof for the hundredth time, her annoyance slowly turning into concern. Marinette was always late for training, it seemed as ingrained in her DNA as the métamorphe gene, but she hadn't shown up at all the other night and was even later than usual tonight. It wasn't like her. She was never punctual, but she wasn't a flake. She would always arrive thirty minutes late, frazzled and escalating apologetic and Tikki would have to spend the next ten minutes getting her to calm down and focus. It was their ritual by now, and for Marinette to up and abandon it? Something was definitely wrong.

She pulled out her phone to search for Marinette's information, finding her number and home address. She'd never used it or gone over before, only having it in case of emergency, and hesitated. As strange as Marinette's absence was, she didn't get the feeling that this was an emergency. For once she willed her powers to come. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her mentee, trying to see something, _anything_...But nothing happened. Of course it didn't. That wasn't how it worked and she should know better by now than to let herself hope.

Tikki opened her eyes and stomped her foot on the roof, allowing herself this small, private temper tantrum, before falling to sit cross-legged and wait.

Not a moment later, her phone rang and she looked down to see Plagg's picture flare across her screen, eyes squinting and lips puckered like the ridiculous man he was. She rolled her eyes, but one quick look around assured her she was alone for the time being. She hit _accept_.

"Cookie!" His voice whined instantly, as if knowing she'd pick up eventually. "I'm _bored_."

Tikki rolled her eyes again at his theatrics, and wondered absentmindedly how, after a decade of this, her eyes were not stuck in a permanent upright position as her foster mother always warned they would be if she didn't stop rolling them. Tikki looked down at her phone, actually looking at her partner for the first time and had to smirk at him. Plagg was laying on the gravel of some roof, phone propped up on its own and pointed at him as he slung an arm over his eyes. He'd clearly invested some time in this setup.

"Do something then," Tikki retorted deadpan. She'd discovered long ago not to get too invested in Plagg's dramatics. Wait a few minutes, and the weather would change. If she didn't love him, she probably would have killed him years ago.

"I can't," he moaned forlornly this time. "I have training tonight."

"Well, then why don't you go train your young and impressionable mentee? I'm sure he's on the edge of his seat, just begging to be honored by the benevolence of your generous wisdom."

Plagg sighed, turning to look in the camera now.

"He's abandoned me."

"Mhmm, okay, quesito," Tikki was looking down at her nails and feigning indifference in the way she knew aggravated him. A glance at the phone from under her lashes at his annoyed face and she had to struggle to control her laughter.

"Ugh, you wouldn't understand," Plagg flopped back onto the gravel. "Such an ungrateful mutt. I spend my valuable time making sure he doesn't get himself killed, and this is my repayment?" Plagg threw his hands up straight in the air in exasperation and Tikki sighed, looking at the camera now.

"You love him. He's a good kid," Tikki reminded Plagg of his own words and watched as her boyfriend's eyes rolled to look at the camera.

"Doesn't mean I _like_ him right now," Plagg emphasized and Tikki smiled, but understood Plagg's frustration. "Two nights in a row…" Plagg grumbled so low Tikki almost didn't hear him. Except, she did. She froze, processing Plagg's words.

"What did you just say?"

Plagg's head pivoted to look at her, immediately reading the change in her voice and filling in the blanks with the look on her face. He sat up, grabbing the phone and looking at her seriously now.

"He skipped out on me last night. Didn't show up, or text, or anything."

Tikki closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, completely ignoring how reckless it was for Plagg to give his mentee his phone number and focusing on the larger picture.

"You didn't tell me that."

"I didn't think it was important. Is it important? Tiks?" Plagg's voice whispered through the phone, but she heard him as if he'd shouted in her ear.

"She didn't show up either," Tikki shook her head, her eyes still closed, and feeling the telltale burning along the bridge of her nose as a vision came to her. She opened her eyes and looked down at Plagg's face, noting the eerie blue that reflected off the phone screen before being pulled completely into the vision.

 _Two teenagers embraced on a rooftop balcony. Their bodies plastered together against the wrought iron railing. Their breaths ebbing and flowing in unison._

 _With their mouths parted by only a fraction of an inch, a brunette girl angled her head towards a blond boy, asking a question he clearly had the answer to._

 _Tikki groaned inwardly. She could practically smell the hormones from where she was, but was used to her visions enough by now to know there was something she needed to see, and until she did, there was no escape. She walked slowly around the scene, taking in another angle and gasped when she realized just who the brunette girl was._

 _Marinette._

 _She smirked a little, glancing at the blond boy in approval. His face was obscured, but the tautness of his muscles depicted a carefully restrained passion. So_ **this** _was what her mentee had been doing instead of training. She looked between the two lovebirds and couldn't blame her. It was as if there was a palpable connection between the two that went beyond the melding of their bodies. Her mentee was practically glowing._

 _Then Marinette reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes and Tikki froze._

 _It was Plagg's boy._

 _She'd only ever seen him in visions, but it was undeniable. That was him, and they were together._

 _Tikki's heart started to beat faster, foreboding wrestling her heart into knots. She watched as the blond leaned in again, his shoulders relaxing as he kissed Marinette with abandon, a swirling energy around them solidifying into something much more substantial. It was then she realized that Marinette didn't just_ **seem** _to be glowing._

 _Both teens were surrounded in an aura, Marinette's as light as the boy's was dark, but while hers slowly burned to life, his flared viciously. Tikki had practiced enough with Marinette to recognize the feel of her creation power. While she'd never visibly glowed before, nor tried to wield it while human, the summertime warmth that infused thought the air at its growing manifestation was undeniable. Marinette had been adamant about being in control and they'd practiced until she felt stable in her new power. It paid off. Even in this emotionally heightened state, it hummed a gentle warmth._

 _The boy clearly had not had such preparation. His power was just as potent, but far more chaotic._

 _Tikki stood in shock as she realized the magnitude of their powers, both still children but burdened with such strength and the impossible ability to manifest it so solidly while human. Then her thoughts were ripped from that train of thought as the boy's green aura, almost completely black now, overtook the light._

 _Tikki watched helpless as Marinette gasped and tried to pull away from the boy's embrace. He froze immediately, taking one look at her face and the swirling black cloud around them in horror, his eyes panicking and clearly at a loss of what to do. He scrambled away from Marinette, terrified and looking at his hands with a gut-wrenching sob as Marinette's lips turned blue and she struggled for breath._

" _No, no, no, no, no..." the boy sobbed to himself. He instinctively moved to reach towards her, but noting the dark glow that still emanated from his body, he recoiled, clenching his fists and trying to calm himself._

" _What have I done," he cried, his hands running through his hair savagely and fist pulling at its roots in clear agony._

" _C'mon Mari. Breathe! You're stronger than me. Please," his voice breaking and eyes never leaving her. "Just breathe."_

 _Tikki watched as Marinette struggled to concentrate, her aura flaring and dimming as she let loose her power in a last ditch effort to draw some strength from its unbridled potency. Tikki felt tears prick at her own eyes, watching the girl struggle, but refused to look away. This was her family. The little sister she'd never had. She simultaneously hated her powers for making her watch this and thanked the universe for giving her a warning and chance to stop what was going to happen._

 _She tore her eyes away and looked out onto the street, searching for any street sign or landmark that would confirm their location. Just as she felt the burning on the bridge of her nose and knew the vision was about to end, she saw it: the reflection of the bakery sign in the adjacent building. It was the Dupain-Cheng bakery._

 _This was Marinette's house._

 _She started to blink against the pain in her nose and shut her eyes completely as this vision faded away._

When she blinked again, she turned dire eyes to Plagg's worried face before turning off the video and searching for Marinette's address again.

"Hey!" Plagg complained when his screen went dark, but she ignored him, ending the call. Finding Marinette's address, she texted it to Plagg.

 _Meet me there now._

She tucked her phone away and transformed and urgently zipped into the sky. She didn't know when that vision was going to happen, but she wasn't going to risk putting it off for tomorrow.

She was flying at such a rapid, panicked pace, she overshot Marinette's home by a block and had to circle back. When she finally found the roof, her heart rate doubled before seeming to stop altogether as the nauseatingly familiar sensation of deja vu washed through her. Below her was Marinette and the blonde boy, completely oblivious to the way they seemed to glow in each other's presence. It was almost beautiful, the way her pink aura wove perfectly with his green, contrasting and complementing like spring. They then pulled apart and it dimmed ever so slightly at the loss of contact, flaring to life with every breath and new touch. Tikki had never felt so conflicted. She looked at them and she saw herself and Plagg, the forbidden love that was right against all odds.

But no...She looked again and remembered why they had decided to keep them apart in the first place. This was something much more. They could be each other's perfect complement, or each other's undoing. She couldn't forget the vision that haunted her, the totality of which she hadn't even shared with Fu. As much as her heart wanted this kind of love for her mentee, it couldn't come at the cost of Marinette's life.

She watched as the teens began to reenact her vision and adrenaline shot through Tikki's body, propelling her forward until she smacked painfully into the boy's neck. He flew backwards at the force, a ladybug-size welt blossoming just as Marinette's eyes darted around, spotting her immediately. Without a moment's hesitation, she was on her feet, positioning herself protectively between the boy and Tikki.

"No," she exclaimed, putting her hands up. There was a hint of fear in her eyes, knowing her secret was out, but mostly Tikki saw steely determination. Marinette's unassuming persona made most think otherwise, but she was a force to be reckoned with when someone threatened one of her own.

Someone she loved.

With a sad shake of her head, Tikki realized that the boy was already that.

Fear coursed through her veins as the vision permanently branded into her mind seemed to solidify further. They should have done more to keep them apart.

She was too late.


	12. Chapter 11

"No," she put her hands up and immediately positioned herself between Tikki and Adrien. Adrien started to stand and open his mouth to speak, but she waved for him to stay down and shut up before turning back to Tikki.

"It's not what you think!" Marinette continued urgently.

She couldn't see Tikki's eyes, but had no trouble vividly imaging the way they would narrow into dangerous slits, her nostrils would flaring in aggravation. Marinette started backing up slowly only to make forcible contact with Adrien's chest. He had, of course, completely disregarded her suggestion and had not only stood up, but was moving in front of her and opening his mouth to speak. She turned to look at him, prepared to use her most effective glare to silence him, when what she saw gave her pause.

He looked at Tikki with...familiarity. He'd seen Marinette transformed, and they looked identical to the untrained eye, but...that's not what this was. He was staring at her with the look of an abashed child, not the expected fear towards the creature that was one percent of his size and yet had just tossed him across the balcony.

Her eyes darted back and forth between the two, her bewilderment growing when Adrien turned to her.

"Wait, what do you mean _it's not what you think_?" His head pivoted between her and Tikki. "Do you two know each other?"

"Are you telling me _you_ know her?" Marinette retorted, hands coming to rest indignantly on her hips. They stared at each other, minds similarly spinning but neither of them coming to any conclusions.

"Oh shit," Adrien muttered, his gaze diverting from hers to follow something to her right.

Marinette's eyes flew to the newcomer, not surprised to see a métamorphe so similar and yet so distinct from Adrien's animal. The black cat loped onto the roof and started to prowl the railing, watching the scene with an amused light in his impossibly green eyes. Now it was Marinette's turn to look confused, watching as Adrien rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.

Tikki started to buzz around the feline, as if having an argument. Under different circumstances, Marinette would have laughed at the way the cat rolled his eyes, an uncannily human action. The two clearly knew each other, and from one look at Adrien, it seemed like she was the only one in the dark.

"Let me guess," she said with an annoyed sneer. "You know him, too?"

He grimaced and she just sighed before transforming, steeling herself against the barrage of shouting she knew she was in for as soon as she and Tikki were on the same wavelength again.

Instead, she was met with deafening silence, her enhanced vision allowing her to make out the look of betrayal and...fear in Tikki's eyes.

"Ti-" she started, flying forwards before halting to cringe. Just what she needed, another breach of anonymity.

"No, go ahead, doll," the black cat said amiably. "Apparently we're all friends here now. Isn't that right, Adrikins?"

Marinette turned to look at Adrien, stubbornly still human and looking at her in perplexity.

"Adrikins?" She repeated, allowing herself one moment to smile and trying not to laugh as he rolled his eyes in embarrassment. Having missed the initial comment, he turned accusatory eyes on the cat nonetheless.

"Seriously, man?" He whined and she had to giggle. Adrien immediately turned back to her, the corners of his eyes crinkling fondly as her laugh washed over him.

"Well, that _is_ interesting," Marinette tore her gaze away from her blonde boy to see that the cat had morphed into a man. His hair was pitch black and razor straight, cropped close on the sides but hanging in a curtain around his his eyes. Tips dyed a deep hunter green, it made his slanted green eyes and high cheekbones even more prominent. "Did you miss that little detail, cookie? Or have you just been holding out on me?"

Tikki zipped until she was floating just in front of Marinette, her eyes boring holes through any lies Marinette might try to think up as cover.

"He can understand you?" Tikki spoke softly, but clearly, her eyes never leaving Marinette's.

"It's a long story," Marinette started, but Tikki just narrowed her eyes at her. "Okay, it's really not," Marinette amended. "We literally have no clue what's going on. Although, it seems _some_ people are more in the loop than others."

She looked at Tikki in accusation before she turned and floated in Adrien's face and he put up his hands up in surrender. She transformed, standing inches in front of him, and crossed her arms.

"Let's start with how you two know each other," she pointed between Tikki and Adrien. "And then we can follow that up with who Mr. Dark and Brooding is over there."

"Name's Plagg, doll," the man inclined his head with a smirk. "But please, Mr. Dark and Brooding will do."

"I guess we're throwing all the rules out the window," Tikki grumbled after shifting to join the party. "And aren't we brazen to be demanding answers, ma'am."

Marinette dropped her crossed arms and still had the humility to look abashed. Tikki's eyes softened as she sighed, walking over and crushing Marinette to her chest. The girl looked at Adrien and then Plagg in confusion, but the former just mirrored her expression and the latter shrugged. Regardless, she hugged Tikki back, feeling that her friend needed this… that she was rattled for some reason. Yes, she'd missed two training sessions, but that couldn't be it. Then she remembered the fear in her eyes earlier; the frantic pace as she sped into Adrien and threw him across the roof.

"Tikki," Marinette whispered, still locked in her mentor's hug. "What did you see?"

Tikki held her tighter for a moment before pulling back to stare at her at arm's length, her eyes darting around Marinette's face, as if to convinced herself that she was indeed all in one piece.

"Tiks, give it a rest," Plagg's voice cut in when Tikki was nearing a minute of staring unwaveringly at Marinette. "At least they're not glowing anymore."

Tikki blinked then, Plagg's voice somehow seeming to calm her worrying enough for her to finally take a full breath and release the death grip she'd held onto her mentee with.

"We know each other because we're all protectors," Tikki finally spoke, answering the first question Marinette had almost forgotten she'd asked.

"Oh," she responded, still looking worriedly at Tikki when her words actually sank in. "Wait...What?" She exclaimed at the same time as Adrien said, "Yeah, but how do you two know each other?"

Then they both paused, looked at each other and then back to Tikki for further explanation. Except, it wasn't Tikki who responded.

"We," Plagg said with no attempt to contain his smile. "All of us," he held his fingers together in a downward position and made a circular motion between the four of them. "Are protectors," he finished with a shit-eating grin, leaning back and thoroughly enjoying the havoc he knew his statement would create.

Marinette turned to Adrien in shock, her face carefully blank but hiding a veritable war zone of emotions underneath. Adrien...was not as reserved.

"Wait, what?" He echoed her earlier statement, but with considerably more volume to his voice. His eyebrow furrowed, looking at her and then Plagg in confusion. "No. I met them all. You introduced me!" He pointed to Plagg.

When the man just smirked at him, Adrien started pacing and babbling incoherently to himself. Marinette tuned him out to try and sort through her own thoughts.

 _Protectors_ , Plagg and Tikki had both said. They were all protectors. She turned to look at the pacing blonde boy and smiled. _He_ was a protector. He was like her! All this drama they'd created for themselves, and none of it mattered. Sure, there was the whole anonymity thing that was iffy, and of course Tikki would have words about her having hid this, but none of that seemed to matter as she stared at Adrien for the first time knowing he _wasn't_ the enemy.

"Adrien," she whispered his name. He stopped muttering and pacing immediately, turning to look at her and smile.

"Buginette," he responded and she had to roll her eyes at yet another nickname. Then he was in front of her, cradling her reverently in his arms, submerging her in the the warmth of his embrace. He was a bonfire on a winter night. The electricity between them, the crackling firewood, his skin was the flames, his smell the smoke…

"Adrien, no!" Adrien was ripped from her arms for the second time that night, in a sensation that was quickly becoming her least favorite in the world. This time, though, it was Plagg who restrained him while Tikki came to stand in front of her. The first thing she noticed, was the way Tikki's luminescent skin seemed to reflect a rubescent glow, like the last vestiges of sunset were trapped under her skin. Looking down at her hands, Marinette jolted, realizing the glow was coming from _her._ Surrounding her arms was a rosy fire with licks of white flowing steadily across its surface like the ocean current.

Daring to look at Adrien, she gasped, seeing how he glowed a verdant green with swirls of inky black. If hers was calm, mild sea, his flared like a wildfire, only intensified by the panicked look on his face. Plagg took a step back, trying to talk him down, but the glow only grew as Adrien realized it was emanating from him. Tikki still stood in front of her, her arm secure around her waist, but Marinette knew on a primal level what needed to be done. Shifting to escape Tikki's grasp, she flew until she felt the intense heat of his glow and shifted back.

"Kitty, look at me," she called softly, his eyes snapping to hers as she placed a hand on his cheek. She felt the fire start to consume her, but he closed his eyes as her hand made contact with his face. Her skin against his, he started to quiet under her touch. Her glow mixed with his as they faded further to a warm white glow with every calming breath Adrien took.

She felt him center once again, and let her eyes shut. Suddenly exhausted, her head fell to his shoulder just as she felt Adrien's hands tighten on her waist.

She forced her eyes open enough only to see their white light fade peacefully before Tikki pulled her forcibly from his arms and the world went black.


	13. Chapter 12

Adrien felt it consuming him.

It was undeniably coming from him, the same current he always felt when he used his powers, but somehow unknown at the same time. It was as if someone had suddenly plucked his still unsteady ass off the bunny slopes and pushed him headlong down the black diamond course, telling him to figure it out as he went along. He felt dangerously close to wiping out and never getting back up.

"Kitty," her voice broke through his panic and he found her eyes immediately. "Look at me."

Her hand moved to cup his face, and he concentrated on that connection. The stability of Marinette. He fought against the fire, forcing it down, refusing to let it harm her. After a moment, it responded to the force of his will and he looked back at her, smiling triumphantly. She managed a wavering smile back but something was wrong. Instinctively, he caught Marinette as she went slack in his arms, but jumped back the moment he felt Tikki wretch her from his proximity.

When he saw her eyes roll shut, he felt the blood rush to his head and had to steady himself against the railing for support. His eyes on her, only on her, he barely noticed that the fire that licked at his skin had gone out completely.

"Mari," he stumbled forward and Plagg caught him as he tripped over his own two feet. Tikki's eyes turned on him, a fierce protectiveness so evident in their depths he half expected her to growl if he got too close. Then she seemed to take in his state fully, and her eye softened starting to include him in her innate maternal concern. She looked up at Plagg sadly as Adrien gathered his strength and fell to his knees at Marinette's side.

She was breathing steadily, and the color had returned to her face, but she was out cold. Pushing past his fears of getting too close, he followed his instincts and grabbed her hand, practically crying out in relief as he felt her familiar hum respond under his touch. Her eyes started to blink open, her cheeks flushing a healthy pink as she took in the three eyes peering intently down at her.

Tikki looked to Adrien and then to their joined hands, her mind grasping at a connection.

"Yeah," Marinette caught the direction of her look. "About that-"

"Wait," Tikki cut her off, stalling all conversation as she made sure her mentee was more comfortable. Moving to help transfer Marinette onto the one chaise lounge, she motioned for Adrien and Plagg to gather round.

"Oh goodie," Plagg exclaimed as he sank into a cross-legged position in front of the lounge chair. He looked over at Adrien and nudged him gleefully with his elbow. "I love storytime."

"You just enjoy my pain," Adrien groaned, but sat next to him.

"Okay," Tikki called them to order and looked between him and Marinette. "Tell me everything."

* * *

Marinette sat silent for the most part and just listened to Adrien relate the details of the last few days. _Had it really only been that long?_ She gazed down at him, smiling when he would catch her eye, communicating so many things with just one look and somehow knowing what she needed without asking. When he'd started telling Tikki and Plagg about the MRA gala, she'd started to feel faint again. Without a word, or even interrupting his train of thought, he'd shifted his posture, stretching one leg out so his bare ankle touched hers where her leg dangled off the lounge chair. She felt her dizziness evaporate at once, and leaned back comfortably onto the chair as her equilibrium seemed to balance.

When Adrien finished, they all sat in silence for what felt like forever, until Plagg gave up the game.

"Tiks," he piped up, cradling his chin between his thumb and forefinger with a studious look on his face. "Does PDA become less gross if it's medically necessary?" He gestured to where Marinette and Adrien's ankles were still linked, and they disconnected instantly as if burned. Tikki just laughed at their embarrassed expression.

"Plagg, be nice to the children," she scolded with a fond shake of her head.

"What? You're the one who wanted to keep them apart," he shot back good-naturedly, but it gave Marinette pause.

"What?" She turned her gaze and looked in accusation at her mentor, but Tikki just looked at her sadly.

"I've had visions. I saw what happened tonight. Well," she backtracked. "What would have happened had we not been here," Tikki finished with a shiver. Marinette's father always said that you got a chill when someone walked over your grave. For some reason, Marinette had the distinct feeling that it wasn't _Tikki's_ grave someone had just walked over.

"And," Plagg's voice prompted, but her and Tikki were starting at each other.

"And," Tikki sighed, but continued. "And I've been seeing one of the two of you for a while now. Something different. But," she hurried on before Marinette could ask one of the million questions that had popped into her head. "I didn't know what to make of it. I _still_ don't."

"What Cookie means to say," Plagg spoke, seemingly happy to fill in the blanks.

" _Plagg_ ," Tikki hissed in warning.

"Is that you two will either destroy each other or live happily ever after," he finished with a serene smile and Marinette felt her heart skip a beat but didn't dare look at Adrien.

"This is not happening," Tikki muttered, raising a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose in stress.

"What! C'mon, Tiks, you saw them! It's exactly like those legends we used to read about!"

"They shouldn't even _know_ each other! This goes against all the rules!"

"You and the goddamn rules," he shook his head in annoyance at what was clearly an old argument.

"They're there for our protection! They're just kids, Plagg!"

"So were we!"

Marinette's eyes zipped back and forth between the two, her mind finally placing Plagg as the other protector Tikki had befriended. The one that had lived with Fu growing up.

"You only hung out while transformed, huh? Never any names?"

Marinette echoed Tikki's words from the day before and cut in on the couple's argument. Because they were clearly a pair, even love-iept Marinette could piece that together. Tikki looked at her abashedly, but Marinette wasn't angry. She knew Tikki did everything she could to protect her, and didn't envy the responsibility of trying to decipher what a vision meant and how best to respond.

"Mari," she started, but seemed to be at a loss for how to continue.

"I'm not mad, Tikki," she assured her, reaching over to grab her mentor and friend's hand. "But I am sacred. We," she gestured toward Adrien who looked like all he wanted to do was take a nap and escape the mental bombardment they'd received today. She didn't blame him. "We have no idea what's going on and obviously need help."

"Especially those of us who have developed a strange new fire power," Adrien raised his hand.

"Fire powers? Please, you're not that cool. Put your hand down, kid," Plagg smacked Adrien's hand and he reluctantly lowered it with a pout. Marinette looked back to Tikki and just rolled her eyes as the older woman smirked.

"Can you help us? Can you tell us what you know?"

Tikki sighed, but squeezed Marinette's hand before turning to have a silent conversation with Plagg. The man nodded, seeming to come to an agreement, before speaking.

"What you two can do seems shockingly similar to the legends of destined partners we used to read, but different at the same time. Whether this is due to things being lost over the years- because it's been centuries since we've seen anything like you two-or if you both are something else entirely, I have no idea," Plagg shrugged, but the levity didn't reach his eyes. He kept glancing over at Adrien, and Marinette could tell that for all his bravado, this man would go to war for her Kitty.

"But Fu might," Tikki picked up where Plagg left off effortlessly, and Marinette was surprised she hadn't recognized them as a pair the moment they arrived. Tikki was the quiet confidence to back-up Plagg's showboating. The realism to balance his sarcasm. Meanwhile, he was clearly the calm in her storm. The balm to her worry.

"In the meantime," Tikki turned her eyes on the two teens. "You two need to listen to me very carefully. If we're going to help you, you need to help us," she sighed, looking at Plagg for help in whatever she was going to say next, but he just shrugged with a smirk as if to say _your funeral_. She rolled her eyes, but continued.

"I know this can all be very exciting," her voice took on the tone of a sex-ed teacher and Marinette was instantly uncomfortable, even though her words contained nothing to make her feel that way. "New love is precious and something to be cherished."

"Woah," Marinette laughed nervously, her eyes darting to Adrien's face to see it a similar shade of tomato. "Love? I mean," she laughed again and looked to Adrien for assistance.

"Uhh," he opened his mouth, but no intelligible words came out.

"Really?" she hissed at him. "Helpful."

"Like I was saying," Tikki cleared her throat while Plagg ducked his head, trying and failing to hide his smirk. "This may sound impossible, but-"

"Dude," Plagg interrupted Tikki and looked at Adrien. "Chill it with the makeout sessions, okay? We'll work on controlling your new powers of destruction, but try not to kill your girlfriend in the meantime. Capisce?"

"She's not-" Adrien started to argue, but stopped when Plagg just gave him a deadpan look.

"Yes, she is," he responded and looked to Marinette.

"Yeah, I am," she sighed, admitting the inevitable.

The smile Adrien sent her way made her probably permanent blush worth it.

"Alright, lover boy. Up up up! We're leaving, _before_ you two make me sick. _Teenagers_ ," Marinette just heard Plagg mutter that last part before he was suddenly a cat walking away and slipping through the railings of her balcony.

Adrien looked over at her and shrugged, shifting himself and sauntering off to follow. Just before he disappeared, he turned back to her.

"Bye, Princess," he winked before following Plagg over the edge and leaving Marinette smiling like a fool.

"Hey," Tikki snapped in her direction to catch her attention. "Tomorrow. Practice. Try not to stand me up again?"

"Sorry," Marinette cringed, but Tikki just nodded, pulling her in for a firm hug.

"Please be careful," she whispered before shifting and flying away into the night.

Marinette watched her go, Tikki's words echoing in her mind as she turned and descended back into the warmth of her room. She knew Tikki had seen more than she'd revealed, but knew better than to push her. Despite her disdain for the power, Tikki somehow instinctively knew the right time for visions to be shared.

Still, remembering how she felt in Adrien's arms, a chill passed through her. She'd felt invincible at first, the strength of his power responding to hers like it was welcoming a long lost friend. Then, she reigned hers in, accustomed to controlling her power of creation before it became too much. Adrien's just burned faster, wilder, brighter. She could feel her aura protecting her just as keenly as she saw his consuming it. She was in control, he wasn't. Stepping back into his fire was like the burn of ice, and stretching her power to protect them both felt like running a marathon in five minutes. She felt his aura wield to hers, recognizing its equal and starting to work with her instead of fighting her. Adrien calmed beneath her touch and she smiled, knowing he was in control. He was alright.

Then she let the exhaustion overtake her and promptly passed out.

She turned the light out in her room and huddled into bed. Tikki was right to be worried. Adrien could have destroyed her. What was even more worrisome? She knew if it came down to it, she'd walk into his fire to save him again.


	14. Chapter 13

Tikki paced around her apartment trying to rid herself of anxious energy and venting to her sometimes-suicidal pet fish. Bender hadn't tried to fling herself out of the bowl since Tikki got her the bigger aquarium, but still. She never left the house without making sure the mesh lid was secure on top.

"She's going to get herself killed, Benny!" Tikki threw her hands up in exasperation. "I mean, hiding this from me for so long? I thought we were closer than that!" She looked over, her goldfish, opening and clothing her mouth rhythmically, but Tikki could see the judgement in Bender's eyes.

"Okay, fine, I wasn't that honest with her either. And yes," she continued with a pout. "I'm not exactly one to talk about forbidden romances, but this is different. I didn't have some blasphemous voodoo connection to Plagg that literally caused my batteries to overheat and threatened to kill us both! He's no good for her! I don't care if they're soulmates!"

Tikki paused in her pacing, catching her breath and watching as Bender gave her one final sardonic look before becoming fascinated with the bubbles floating up from her toy treasure chest.

"Oh my god," Tikki sank on to her couch and dropped her head in her hands and groaned. "I sound like my grandmother."

"Do you now?"

"Stop fishing," Tikki automatically retorted, opening her eyes and looking directly to the window she knew he'd be perched on. Sure enough, he was right where she expected, leaning casually against the ajar window. Watching her calmly. He waited in silence, giving her the chance to elaborate should she want. She didn't. They both knew she wouldn't.

Plagg had always been an open book, sharing his less than ideal childhood with an ease and indifference she knew he actually didn't feel. It was how he survived, waving off the past as unimportant until he could believe it himself, but he was a better actor than she.

Tikki was forever a closed book. Where Plagg forced himself to feign nonchalance towards his childhood, Tikki just didn't speak of it at all. Plagg had figured out her story over the years. A squirrel storing it all away, he gathered bit and pieces of her and kept them like treasures to sustain him through the winter. She loved how he cherished even the ugly parts of her and wished it was simpler. She wished she could give him more, that she could even pretend indifference like Plagg, but nearly two decades later, it still pained her to think of the home she lost and the farce that came after. As it was, she was lucky to have gotten to the point where she could mention her family members out loud, even when she thought she was by herself.

"And stop lurking, you stalker," she continued, trying to soften the harshness of her words.

She met Plagg's eyes and knew she was fooling no one, but ever her better half, he played along, raising a hand to his heart in shock.

"Me?" He stood up and walked over innocently towards her. Slowly at first but then running, he rushed to scoop her up off the couch, holding her securely against him as he fell into the cushions with a thud. She turned in his arms to lay vertically, propping her chin on his chest.

"I never lurk," he finally finished and she snorted a laugh.

"Yeah you do," she argued, turning to lay an ear where his heart was. "But you're a welcome lurker, so it's fine."

"Welcome in my own apartment? I should hope so," he exclaimed, but she remained silent.

She closed her eyes, meditating to the familiar beat of his heart, and felt him reach up to rub soothing circles in her back.

"Do you want to tell me what you were ranting about, or should I ask Bender?"

"Bender wouldn't tell you," she mumbled, her words muffled into his shirt.

"I'm sorry to have to break it to you like this, but Bender likes me better."

"Now you're a lurker _and_ a liar. Don't defame Bender's character. She has better taste than that."

"She's a suicidal goldfish."

Tikki lifted her head, raising a single eyebrow at him in challenge.

"She just wants to be where the _people_ are."

Plagg gave her a disbelieving look.

"We're working on it," she relented, dropping her head back to his chest.

"Okay," he drew out his response, but Tikki could feel his silent laughter shake through his body. She melted into the sensation, re-memorizing the solid plane of his chest... the long lines of his legs to where her toes only reached his shins... the solid fire of his arms. It was a ritual to her, breathing him in, concentrating on his stability.

 _He_ was her stability.

"Seok?" She let her oft hidden vulnerability seep into her words as she spoke his rarely used birth name, the one he'd entrusted only to her. His eyes opened slowly to look down at her, and she was bewildered again. Was it just a coincidence or did his birth parents somehow predict that he would become her rock?

"Tierra," he responded in kind, using the name she hadn't let anyone else call her since she lost her papa.

"It's the kids," she said after a few more moments, knowing Plagg would understand.

"They'll be okay," his voice was uncharacteristically rough, and she knew this had been eating away at him too.

"Amor?"

"I'll-We'll make sure of it," he cut her off, his arms coming to rest around her more firmly. "The kid is getting better already. We've spent three nights training for hours," he looked down at her and quirked an eyebrow. "For some reason, he is _very_ motivated."

Tikki snorted, remembering Marinette's similar focus.

"They remind me of us," she said.

"Yeah," he responded, but looked down at her strangely. "Except I didn't have to worry about accidentally killing you every time things got a little out of control. Thank _god_."

"Plagg," she looked up at him deadpan. "You lived with Fu. Things _never had a chance_ to get out of control."

"Damn mystic with his sixth sense," Plagg muttered and Tikki smiled, remembering their younger years. They thought they were so clever at first, breaking the rules to be together. It was terribly romantic, but of course, they were bumbling idiots and hadn't fooled Fu for a second.

Still, years laters, she blushed remembering the first morning she'd woken up in Plagg's bed. Nothing had happened, for all their rebellions, they were both agonizingly cautious about letting someone else fully into their hearts. She'd crept out of bed, careful not to wake a still sleeping seventeen year old Plagg only to freeze when she left the room and saw Fu sitting at the kitchen table, serenely sipping a cup of tea.

" _I know you're not used to breaking the rules, my dear,"_ he looked at her calmly, but she swore he was trying not to smile. " _But you could at least_ **try** _to be discreet about it."_

She'd never blushed so hard. She imagined her face quite closely resembled Marinette's the other night.

"They're so young, Plagg," she echoed the common worry that had been flitting through her head since the first vision. "I hate being this person, the one who has to keep them apart, but they're too powerful and too inexperienced. If you saw what I saw…" she choked off the last part, trying and failing to shake the image of a dying Marinette from her head.

"Shh, I know," he began tracing patterns on her back again, and she was grateful he didn't ask her to share. With his powers, she could easily show him, but he never asked unless she offered, never wanting to make her re-live a vision needlessly.

"But we knew this was inevitable," he continued. "You saw them together, and they're both protectors. They were going to meet eventually."

"I know, I just wish it wasn't so soon. They're not protectors yet, not really. It's still our job to protect _them_ ," she sighed, burrowing her head into Plagg's chest. "I don't know what to do."

"Just what you said. We do our job," Plagg responded, his voice iron. "We'll talk to Fu and get some help, but otherwise, we do our job. Tikki," he waited until she looked up at him before continuing. "All we can do is prepare them." He reached up and ran his fingers through her short hair before resting his hand at the nape of her neck. The heat of his palm diffused through her skin and started to eat away at the tension there. "I don't pretend to see what's coming like you, but I do know that when the time comes, this won't be our battle to fight. All we can do is make sure they're ready."

Tikki stared into his green eyes, trying to anchor onto his words, but knowing he only half-believed them himself. He hadn't seen what she had, but the other night's light show was more than enough to show Plagg what they were up against. Marinette and Adrien could be a force to be reckoned with or a disaster in the making. It was up to her and Plagg to make sure it was the former and not the latter. With the right training, they would be formidable, but Tikki was more interested in keeping them both alive.

Right now, that meant keeping them apart. She knew it wasn't ideal, but they were still too volatile together. They needed to be better prepared, but how did you prepare someone with power beyond your own experience? Beyond your own comprehension?

With a groan, she rolled off of Plagg and pulled herself to a standing position before offering him a hand up. They needed to go see Fu, before her mind started to spiral into _all_ of the worst case scenarios.

"Let's try and make sure they're ready, then," she responded, looking up at him with an attempt towards optimistic eyes. "I just hope it'll be enough."


	15. Chapter 14

Adrien dashed around his room-or as Nino liked to call it his "penthouse"-trying to clear the mess and making sure it didn't smell too much like "teenage boy". Nino watched him with an amused glint in his eyes, but Adrien could tell he was just as anxious. This was their first group meetup with the girls to prepare for the debate next week-not that he hadn't been texting Marinette non-stop since the...incident. He just hadn't seen her, and he was slightly going insane at the thought of being in the same room as her, knowing he'd have to keep his distance.

He paused his frantic pace and took a deep breath to center himself. He'd gotten pretty good at controlling his new power of destruction in the days since he last saw her. The first night, he'd been terrified, but Plagg forced him to open up and let it all out, adamant that being afraid of his power was unacceptable. It was a part of who he was, and in order to find balance, he had to understand this part of himself before he could figure out how to control it.

For such a snarky asshole, Plagg had surprisingly poignant moments.

So Adrien did just that, incinerating everything within a meter range of his body in the process, but managing to expel the force without harming himself. And Plagg was right. Unlike the first time, he didn't feel the power trying to consume him. He worked with the power, letting it flow through his body-like a friend, not an intruder-and it had responded to his will. He glanced down at his black coat and grinned. Not a hair has been singed. Looking over at Plagg...he hadn't been so lucky.

" _If I shift back and you've ruined my hair..."_ the cat grumbled and Adrien had to force himself to keep a straight face. Plagg wore his nonchalant persona like a badge, but he was the most high maintenance person Adrien had ever met. He kept his hair dyed meticulously, the green tips always an inch exactly and never dull. Adrien would probably need all of his nine lives to escape that man's fury if he messed up his look.

" _You better not be laughing, blondie,"_ he fixed Adrien with his most intense stare and Adrien watched as his eyes seemed to glow with a light from within. Plagg didn't use his more potent powers much, hating the intrusive nature of them, but Adrien knew their glint when he saw it. He looked down, refusing to meet Plagg's eyes. No way did he want Plagg to divine some embarrassing anecdote from his past to use against him. Not that he'd ever used his powers on Adrien without permission. Still, Adrien wasn't willing to risk it.

" _Good,"_ Plagg continued, a serene smile settling comfortably on his face. " _Now, let's get this baby under control."_

Over the days, they _had_ gotten it under control...To an extent. Plagg had warned him that it probably wasn't at its full potency yet. It had been triggered by an emotional event and probably wouldn't be fully realized until another trigger, but that was why the training was so important _now_. Marinette had spent weeks honing her powers before she felt in control, and hers didn't threaten to kill her and everyone around her. Adrien had to be stronger; ready for the day they hit him full force if he wanted to be able to protect himself and his girlfriend.

He smiled at that, remembering the way _she'd_ declared them to Plagg.

 _Yeah, I am._

She'd cut off his contrary statements with a resigned sigh but a smile in his direction. As if they were inevitable. As if her mind had been made up the moment they met, just like his.

He was jolted out of his blissful reminiscing by the intercom by his door.

"Adrien," Nathalie's voice was no less jarring that the buzz before it, but he walked over to press the button and respond.

"Yes?"

"Your...friends are here," she said the word disdainfully, as if it was somehow impossible that Adrien should have friends. If it were up to his father, he probably wouldn't He'd probably never even see the outside world. Thankfully, he'd picked up his fair share of negotiation skills and managed to convince Gabriel of the merits of classroom learning and got himself enrolled in a private school. He'd had to bring a note from his teacher the first time Nino came over, proving he was his lab partner, but by now, his friend had been deemed harmless enough to come over occasionally. The girls...well, that had taken a note _and_ call from Mr. Damocles, but thankfully his father was occupied enough with his new job that he hadn't spared much time to argue. Nathalie hadn't been easier to convince-if anything she had been more difficult because she lacked even the vestiges of fondness for him that his father still possessed-but it was eventually all sorted.

"Okay," he responded, keeping his voice calm and hoping the smile on his face wasn't audible. With one last glance around the room- it was as good as it was going to get- he motioned to Nino, who was lost in the world of his music, to follow before rushing out the door and towards the grand staircase.

He stopped at the top landing when he saw her. Marinette and Alya were standing in the center of his foyer, two spots of brightness against the stark marble theme, but to him Marinette shined the brightest. He'd seen her aura before, and while he knew she wasn't _actually_ glowing right now, he swore she travelled with the sunset on her back. The house had never felt so much like home.

"Hey guys," he tried to keep his face and voice composed, not seeing Nathalie but knowing she was lurking somewhere nearby ready to report anything and everything back to his father. He realized he must have done a little _too_ good a job when he watched Marinette's brow furrow in confusion and Alya's eyes dart back and forth between the two.

"We should get started," he continued, waving his hand and hoping to hurry them up the stairs and out from under prying eyes. "We don't want this to take longer than it has to," he added for Nathalie's benefit but hated the way it made Marinette's eyes dim.

Alya considered him for a moment, before pursing her lips, linking an arm with Marinette and marching them both up the stairs and past Adrien, somehow guessing which room was his.

When they were all in, he shut the door behind them securely behind him, breathing a sigh of relief. His father had the entire house wired with security cameras and microphones, knowing how his position made him enemies of both species, but after Adrien found them more than once hidden in his room, he put his foot down. His father swore it was for security, but Adrien was just as adamant that it was an invasion. After that, his room had been off limits. Nathalie still tried to have the techs wire his room when he was least suspecting it, but he'd become too good at finding them. When he'd become a métamorphe, his enhanced hearing made it even easier to find the bugs; he just had to be careful to transform where even a well-placed camera couldn't spot him. He'd done a sweep when they'd gotten back while Nino was in the bathroom and the room was blessedly clear.

"We good?" Nino asked, unfortunately much too aware of his security issues.

"Yeah, man. I checked when we got back," Nino nodded at his response before turning to go plop on his normal spot. Then Nino seemed to remember they had company and froze, turning to look at Alya, a blush creeping onto his face. Alya smirked at him before fixing her intense stare on Adrien, but he wasn't looking at her.

"Sorry," he said to Marinette, taking a step towards her and then stopping, remembering that he still had to keep his distance. "It's just...Nathalie." he tried to explain, but failed, reaching up to rub the back of his neck nervously. How does one explain that they live with a dictatorial father who meted out his commands via a stiletto-wearing lieutenant that reported Adrien's every move back to him with an astonishing attention to detail?

"She's crazy," Nino summarized beautifully. "She tells his father _literally everything_. And the little creep keeps trying to wire Adrien's room in with the rest of the farm."

"Farm?" Alya narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Nino likes to exaggerate," Adrien sighed, giving Marinette a sad smile.

"Nah, it's just like the CIA! I swear, all the staff here are just MRA in training. They rotate like crazy and I've never seen the same face twice. And why else would he have that crazy surveillance inside his own home?"

"Sorry," Adrien said again, ignoring the two as they delved into conspiracy theories and focusing on Marinette. "Trust me, it's better that she doesn't know we're...friends."

He hesitated on the last word deliberately and thrilled when he saw a small smirk come to her face.

"Right, friends," she repeated, letting her smirk grow a little wider before Alya interrupted.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat, her and Nino having concluded their discussion without them noticing. "Whenever you two are done making eyes at each other, we'd love to start."

Marinette rolled her eyes at her friend while Adrien managed an abashed smile.

"We're coming, we're coming," Marinette called to her and started to walk around him, pausing just an inch from his side.

"Don't worry, chaton," she smiled innocently up at him, but he saw the impish set of her eyes. "I'll keep our secret," she whispered, letting her hand brush his as she walked away, sending tantalizing currents from his fingertips to his shoulder.

He gathered his composure and turned to see her already sitting with the others around his small coffee table, opening notes and comparing research. Her eyes darted up to meet his, sparing a second to wink before turning back to the task at hand.

 _This woman might be the end of me_ , Adrien thought as he finally willed his limbs to move forward.

Smiling, he took his place next to Nino, peering at her subtly as she conferred with Alya.

 _I'll risk it._


	16. Chapter 15

Marinette had looked around his house in awe. She knew he was rich, his father being who he was, but until she saw the way he lived, it hadn't really sunk in. He certainly didn't _act_ rich. Marinette wasn't so much of a snob to group all rich people together, but being one of the few scholarship students at her school, she'd had to deal with her fair share of holier-than-thou jerks.

Not Adrien.

She looked across at him, his legs sprawled under the coffee table and coming to rest next to her as he leaned back against the base of the couch reading through some notes. Keeping her head pointed down towards her book, she reached down to lay her hand on the arch of his bare foot, relishing the hum of their connection and blushing at the way his eyes peeked at her over his notebook.

They'd been at work for hours, having divided their roles into Adrien as opener, Alya and Nino as debaters, and Marinette as the closer. It would actually work out for the best, Alya and Nino being the best to think of arguments off the top of her head, and Adrien and Marinette sure to give impassioned statements against the MRA. They'd each been doing separate research to support their particular role for the last hour, and if it weren't for the secret smiles and brushes she was sharing with Adrien, Marinette could have passed out from sheer exhaustion already. But she wouldn't. This was this was the only time she could see him in person right now, so she was determined not to miss a second of it.

Tikki had been an angel since the other night, but Marinette was determined to be better. Her and Adrien couldn't _really_ be together until they were stronger, until their control was perfect, so that's what she would be. She knew he was probably blaming himself for everything-if she'd learned anything in the short time she'd known him it was that he'd had a string of bad luck and seemed to consider himself a magnet for it-but she refused to play into that belief. Yes, he had the destructive power, but when she'd stepped into his fire and felt their powers merge...for a moment, just before the chaos truly set it, it felt right: like fitting the last piece in an infinite jigsaw. It was what she felt a fraction of every time she was in his presence, and felt even more when they touched.

He was her balance.

She knew Tikki was worried, and she had every reason to be. It could be dangerous, and Marinette wasn't going to go off and start ringing wedding bells anytime soon, but she felt with an unsettling certainty that she needed him just as much as he needed her.

She was too superstitious to think that all this happening just as Hawkmoth rose from the past was a coincidence. Her ancestors would call it fate that brought her and Adrien together, but she saw past that to destiny. She could see the truth in this belief everytime Tikki's eyes flashed blue and she turned to look at Marinette with a worried gaze. She needed to be with Adrien selfishly, but she also had a feeling that they were not given these gifts to live out their own fairy tale. Something was coming, and they would need to be prepared. Her powers were only going to become more potent, just like his, and she knew they'd both need the balance that the other offered.

Adrien wiggled his foot under her hand to grab her attention and she looked back up at him. He gazed at her pensively, probably noting the worried set of her features, and had just opened his mouth to say something when a loud buzzing startled the group out of their silence. Adrien didn't jump like the rest of them, simply sighed before pulling his foot from her grasp and getting up to pad over towards the door.

"Yes?" He asked, pushing a button on a small touchpad by the door Marinette hadn't noticed earlier.

"Your father would like a word," the woman's voice responded and Marinette instinctively shivered at the mention of Adrien's father. He looked back at her with an apologetic smile before shrugging towards the others and leaving the room.

"We might as well pack up," Nino sighed and started collecting papers.

"Why?" Alya cocked her head at him, but started passing him things to organize.

"Papa Agreste is home, which means _we_ are out. He doesn't like people in his space."

"It's Adrien's home too," Marinette muttered, but followed Nino's lead and started gathering her things.

"Dude," Nino shook his head sadly. "Adrien just lives here. I don't think I've ever even heard him call it _home_ just _the house_."

"That's actually really depressing," Alya said, looking over to Marinette, but she was lost in her own musings. She'd talked to him into the late hours of the night for over a week now, but was just realizing how, after that first night on the roof, his father almost never came up. She'd certainly mentioned her own parents numerous times, but his mother had died and his father was the head of the organization designed to kill them. Not exactly easy subjects to broach. He and his father's relationship was certainly tense, and from what Nino was saying, cold, but Gabriel was still the only parent Adrien had left. Blood was hard to turn your back on.

"Alright, Mari," Alya roused her from her musings. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Marinette slung her messenger bag over her shoulder and moved to stand. "Is there a bathroom I can use first?" She turned to look at Nino and the boy smiled, seeming happy to be an authority on the Agreste estate.

"Yeah, right th-," he started to point to a door in the back of Adrien's room before swiveling another direction. "Actually, there's a guest bathroom in the hall," he laughed nervously and she watched Alya smirk at the action.

"Probably safer," she stage-whispered to Marinette and they both giggled.

"Just around the corner there," Nino pointed once there were out the door, his hand directing her in the opposite direction of the stairs to the front door.

"We'll wait for you out front, yeah?" Nino asked, clearly anxious to be out of the house when Mr. Agreste was home, so Marinette just nodded good-naturedly and went to find the elusive bathroom.

When she walked back out, she realized she had managed to turn herself around. Had she come from the left or the right? The entire house outside Adrien's room seemed to adopt the same stark marble floors and walls, leaving her decidedly lost in a maze of overpriced carrara. She went right, hoping she'd be _right-_ oh god, she really needed to stop talking to Adrien so much- or that one of the ever rotating staff members Nino had mentioned would find and take pity on her before she got lost in the massive house and starved to death forgotten in a pristine corner. Of course, if she shifted, she'd be out in an instant- her enhanced speed and smell directing her effortlessly towards fresh air-but besides blanching at the idea of transforming in the veritable lion's den that was the house of the head of the MRA, Adrien said there were cameras everywhere.

She rounded another corner and sighed in relief when she heard voices, picking up her pace until she recognized _who_ they belonged to.

" _...security risk is too high. They are not welcome here."_

" _But, father-"_

" _That now includes your bespectacled friend,"_ Gabriel's voice was like steel, cutting Adrien off and leaving no room for argument.

" _Yes, father_ ," Adrien replied, and she noted how his voice was somehow submissive and rebellious at the same time. His father didn't seem to notice, though she supposed being a métamorphe under the same roof as the top métamorphe hunter would make Adrien a pretty decent liar.

" _I'm sorry, son,"_ Gabriel sighed and placed a hand on Adrien's shoulder, but Marinette couldn't hear any real apology in his voice. " _It's for our_ **and** _their protection."_

" _I understand,"_ Adrien responded, waiting until his father's hand fell away before walking out of the hall. Nathalie appeared immediately after he left.

" _Make sure those urchins never step foot in this house again_ ," Gabriel hissed at her and she ducked her head in acquiescence.

" _Yes, sir,"_ Nathalie turned to leave, but a flick of Gabriel's wrist and she immediately paused, her attention focused on him.

" _And did you take care of the ...problem?"_ He looked at her sternly, but she didn't wilt under his gaze.

" _Yes,"_ she nodded once. " _He has been handled."_

" _Have they learned their lesson?"_ He looked at her then and Nathalie's lips quirked up in a sick replication of a smile.

" _No one will question your authority again,"_

" _Good,"_ Gabriel smiled himself before flicking his wrist in her direction and turning away. " _You are dismissed for the night."_

" _Very good. Goodnight, sir,"_ Nathalie spun on her heel to leave, her stilettos only clicking twice before Gabriel froze and looked over his shoulder in her direction.

" _Goodnight, who?"_ His voice called to her innocently, but his eyes were dangerous. Nathalie paused again, spinning slowly to look him square in the eyes, a grin spreading like plague across her face.

" _Goodnight,"_ she murmured, her voice freezing like ice in the air. " _Hawkmoth."_


	17. Chapter 16

Tikki laid in the center of Fu's apartment while Plagg roamed around his old home. Fu had been mysteriously absent since that morning when they came and explained everything to him and she was growing restless. She needed something concrete. Marinette was being blessedly patient; working her little wings off and trying not to ask too many questions, though Tikki knew she must have mountains of them. Tikki had seen her die, and no matter how she dodged Marinette's inquiries, she could tell the girl knew Tikki wasn't telling her everything. Or at least suspected. Marinette's sixth sense almost rivaled Master Fu's.

There was a knock on the door and Plagg went to answer it. Knowing Fu's absences tended to drag on, Tikki demanded sustenance and it had _finally_ arrived.

She looked down at her watch again and took a deep breath in to sigh when a plastic wrapped object pummeled into her brow. She sat up in consternation and glared at a snickering Plagg as he turned towards the kitchen.

"Really?" She complained, plucking the fortune-cookie-turned-weapon from where it fell and waving it at him. "You are a disgrace to your ancestors."

She smirked at his back, knowing exactly which buttons to push, but kept her face blank when he turned towards her and waited for the expected reaction. Plagg raised an eyebrow at her, a smug look crossing his face.

"My ancestors? Americans?" He quipped, and she groaned, playing the game and inwardly smiling at how predictable he could be. He had a penchant for meaningless trivia, and the glint in his eye told her she was in for a lecture. She flopped back on the floor and made a circular motion with her hand, telling him to get on with it, craving the distraction.

"The modern fortune cookie, my dear Tikki, was invented in the great city of San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century. They have become popularized by Chinese restaurants, but a version of their greatness has also been found in 19th century Japan."

"The point, professor," Tikki propped herself up and gave him a practiced bored look.

"The point is, while there is a debate as to whether fortune cookies should be considered American, Japanese or Chinese," he walked over and plucked the object out of her hand, his arm laden with chinese take out that wafted heavenly aromas of fried dough and steamed vegetable towards her.

"Not. My. Ancestors." He articulated each word deliberately, his voice still teasing. "They were Korean, but frankly? I'm French, so I don't care either way."

He turned away from her with a flourish, taking the brown paper bag of edible treasure with him. She rolled her eyes at his antics, but it was a familiar refrain for Plagg. While she still clung to her childhood memories of Andorra, Plagg was a born and raised Parisian; a Frenchman through and through.

He put the bag on the small kitchen table and started to unpack while she went to grab bowls and utensils. Just as she set them on the table, she heard keys rattling in the door and spun to grab an extra set. When she turned again, Fu was standing in the doorway.

"We have enough for three…" She started, but trailed off when she noted a calm but pained smile on his face.

"Don't panic…" he started, and Tikki shut her eyes, the bridge of her nose starting to burn as her body grew rigid. When she opened them again, an azure sea stared back out at the two men.

"Shit," Plagg muttered, looking between the two and pushing the food away.

He'd lost his appetite.

* * *

Marinette had never run so fast in her life. She'd slipped away from the hall quietly before speeding in the other direction, down a blessedly familiar corridor and towards her friends. She found them easily, standing right outside the front door and chatting amiably, a stark contrast to the dread she felt spreading through her body.

"Mari?" Alya took in her state immediately, putting a hand on her shoulder and telling her to breathe. "Mari, what's wrong?"

Marinette had never wanted to confide in her friend more than in that moment. She imagined the relief of just coming out and telling Alya everything: her second life, what was really going on with Adrien, the evil mastermind who was plotting to kill them all and who was actually the father of her soul mate.

But she couldn't.

It wouldn't be fair, and she couldn't put Alya in that danger. She loved her friend too much. She just wished lying to her didn't have to be a side effect of keeping her safe.

"I..." She took a deep breath and forcefully pushed back the confession. "Got lost," she finished lamely and Alya just rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Looking for your boyfriend?" She quirked an eyebrow and Marinette was sure she blushed. She probably blushed. It should just be the given assumption at this point that she blushed.

"No," she responded with an indignant huff in her voice. "Although…"

"Say no more," Alya held up a hand, looking past her and winking. "I see you have another escort home. Text me later!" She called, already dragging a confused Nino down the street with her and disappearing around the corner. Marinette looked after her strangely, just as confused. Then her skin started to hum, a delectable warmth bringing the world to life, and she knew what Alya had been winking at.

"Can I walk you home?" A familiar voice sounded next to her, and for a moment she forgot why she had been panicking and looked into his sage green eyes as he reached for her hand and started down the street. She tried to focus on him, to enjoy the familiar hum of his aura, but her mind was spinning, trying to process what she'd just heard and decide what to do with the information.

She wasn't sure if this development put Adrien more in danger or less, but she had to tell him.

"Adrien," she said his name softly and he hummed and looked down at her, eyes crinkling slightly in a smile. "I need to talk to you about something."

His brow creased in confusion and his pace began to slow. She looked around and saw they were across the street from a park. Pulling him behind her, she crossed the street and found a bench just within the iron gates.

"Uh oh, no good conversation comes after having to sit down," Adrien muttered but sat next to her, his grip on her hand tighter now, like he was afraid to let go.

"It's about you father," she started, trying to gather the right words and break it to him, but he just sighed.

"I know. He's…" Adrine shook his head and leaned back against the bench in a resigned posture. "He's a little overbearing. I don't want you to worry, though," he looked over at her with that heart-wrenching sad smile of his. "I'm careful. None of the cameras ever see me shift."

"Shit," Marinette cursed, dropping his hand in shock, her hands flying to cover her mouth. The cameras. In her haste to retreat, to find Adrien, _she'd forgotten about the cameras._ "Shit, shit, shit, shit…" she got up and started pacing, one hand on her hip and the other tapping her forehead in aggravation.

"I can't believe I was so stupid. The cameras," she turned to look at Adrien, but didn't stop pacing. "They're through the entire house? Even the halls?"

He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. He was clearly confused, but he answered her question.

"Yeah, the only inch of the house not under surveillance is my room, not that Nathalie doesn't try."

She closed her eyes at this confirmation, knowing she was screwed. If they hadn't seen it yet, they would soon, and then they'd know that Marinette had completely overheard exactly what she shouldn't have. She'd chosen not to shift _because_ of the cameras, but her reaction to hearing Hawkmoth's name was just as damning. She'd clearly recognized it, and since she wasn't a part of Hawkmoth's army, that left only one other option. Months of secrecy and training, gone in an instant. She'd given it all away. The man was Hawkmoth _and_ the head of the MRA. She was as good as dead.

"Princess, what is it? You didn't-" he paused, looking at her anxiously and swallowing a lump in his throat. "You didn't shift did you?"

He looked at her so earnestly, his face terrified at what he'd determined to be the worst case scenario- that his MRA father would discover her-but he didn't know the half of it.

"No," she said finally, but before he could relax too much, she continued. "No, Adrien, it's so much worse."

"Bugaboo, I don't think there's anyth-"

" I...overheard something… Something I shouldn't have," she took a breath, trying to calm her nerves that were on high alert. "And now he's going to be after me. _Dammit!_ How could I forget about the cameras? Why couldn't I just stay calm for once?"

"Mari," Adrien stood up now, standing in front of her to stop her frantic pacing and placing his hands on both her cheeks. She took a moment to savor the touch of his skin, letting her head drop into the cradle of his hands. "You're not making any sense."

"Your father, chaton," she started, steeling herself for the fresh hell she had to unleash. "Your father is Hawkmoth."


	18. Chapter 17

Adrien stared at her for a full minute before he started laughing.

"Okay, Marinette. Sure," he shook his head, pulling his hands away from her face and turning to go sit back down on the bench.

"Adrien, I'm serious," her voice was quiet, but determined. Her eyes still held the terrified light that had made him so anxious, but the resolute set of her mouth and the unwavering look in her eyes gave him pause.

"No," he said, still shaking his head. "No. Marinette, my dad is the president of the _MRA_. He hunts métamorphes for a living. Happily, I might add! There is no way he is one of us, let alone _Hawkmoth_."

"Adrien, I heard it with my own ears."

"Well, you clearly misheard," he retorted, refusing to even entertain the idea.

Her eyes flashed dangerously, a nearly imperceptible pink tinge coming to her skin. It almost looked like she was blushing, but Adrien knew better. She closed her eyes, controlling her power, and it faded. Then she opened them, and took a step forward.

"I know this is hard to hear," her hands were raised in a universal non-threatening posture and her voice placating, but Adrien felt his spine stiffen at her tone. "But I was right around the corner. I heard him and Nathalie talking in the hall, and she called him Hawkmoth."

She took another step forward, but when he finally met her gaze he froze. She was calm, her voice reasonable, and logic told him to listen, but one look in her eyes, and he felt his entire body go rigid at an emotion he saw there.

Pity.

He felt his anger flare to life dangerously and saw a green glow reflect off her skin. He'd seen that look his entire life. _Oh your mother died? Your father is emotionally absent? You only have one friend? Poor dear._ He'd come to resent it more than any other human expression, and here it was on her face. Her, the person he felt in his bones that he could trust from the moment they met. It inexplicably felt like a betrayal, and he felt himself slip back into his easy public persona: the indifferent charade he'd perfected over the years to protect himself from letting anyone get too close. Because when he let his guard down, when he let people in, it only led to heartbreak. It only led to this.

"It's not hard to hear," he retorted, his voice sounding cold even to his ears. "It's just not true."

"Kitty-" she started to take a step towards him, but he backed up.

"No, Marinette," he stopped her with a hand held up, no nickname rolling easily off his tongue. She froze in shock. "You can't just go snooping around my house and then tell stories about what you _think_ you heard. My father isn't a great man. His job is horrible, and I understand that you don't like him. Hell, _I_ don't even like him! But that's no excuse to make up some lie and say he's the leader of some métamorphe extremist army," he spoke clearly and articulately. After a lifetime of having to defend himself against his father and their farce of a relationship against the world, the words fell easily from his lips. He didn't like his father, but he was all the family Adrien had left, and he was immediately on the defensive. She still stared at him in confusion, clearly not accepting what he was saying, but he wasn't finished. "Do you even realize how crazy you sound?"

He watched with the trained indifference of an unaffected bystander as his words hit their mark and anger battled with hurt in her eyes. She took a step back, her arms wrapping around her midsection as if to protect herself from the pain. As if his words had made physical impact. She looked back up at him, motionless but a clear fury burning white hot in her gaze. He immediately hated himself, but seemed unable to fight past years of conditioning that told him to protect his father. Protect their family.

"I just want you to be safe," she spoke finally, her voice steady compared to the storm raging in her eyes. "I know what I heard, and you need to be careful. Now, I need to go before someone realizes what I overheard. I'd tell you not to worry," she paused, her brow furrowing in further in confusion as he continued to stare at her with his mask of indifference. "But I don't even know if you cared to begin with."

"Don't be dramatic," he responded automatically, his voice a whisper of regret, but he watched as the final gate closed in her expression, locking herself away for protection just as he'd done with his heart not moments ago.

"Goodbye, Adrien," she whispered, and walked away.

* * *

She stomped down the street, berating herself for being so naive and trying not to cry. He didn't deserve her tears, yet they still threatened to overflow.

Tikki had been right to try and keep them apart. She'd let herself fall too quickly, and gave too much of her heart to someone she'd honestly just met. She only had herself to blame when he'd been careless with it. Marinette tried to tell herself it was a bad idea to start with, but she'd listened to some vestigial métamorphe instinct instead of her logical brain and she'd let him in.

Despite her best efforts, she'd gotten caught up in the romance of it all-The forbidden love, Fated soulmates, Finding her other half-and she'd confused their métamorphe compatibility with something much deeper. Something spiritual. She thought she knew him. They'd spent hours talking late into the night, sharing dreams and ambitions and random childhood stories. She'd given him access to all the corners of her heart she'd long-kept hidden and thought he'd done the same.

She thought she was in love.

Clearly, she'd been wrong.

The boy she thought she was falling in love with would have trusted her. At the very least, he would have seen the abject terror in her eyes and understood that what she was saying wasn't easy, but she needed someone. She'd wanted him to be that someone.

But no.

For a moment she thought maybe she'd found a partner she could rely on, an equal to confide in and trust in the craziness that surrounded them, but she'd been foolish. The universe had tried to warn her. Tikki had tried to warn her. The protectors remained anonymous for a reason. She had Tikki, but really, at the end of the day, she had herself. That's who she could rely on.

Marinette was still huffing to herself when her phone buzzed and she looked down in puzzlement. It was an unknown number. She declined it, shaking her head and feeling her annoyance surge further. Her number was on the no call list, and yet she was still getting cold calls. Sighing again, she pulled her coat tighter around her and picked up the pace. Her phone buzzed again, and she slowed. Looking down she saw the same unknown caller ID, but instead of being annoyed, she felt a flood of foreboding wash over her. Something wasn't right. She tried to quiet her tumultuous heart and listen to an intuition much older. Instinctively, she started to jog.

Somewhere in the nearby distance, as if confirming fears she hadn't even admitted to herself, she heard three distinct sets of footfalls match her pace.

"Shit," she muttered to herself for what felt like the hundredth time that day and started to sprint. The footfalls behind her ceased, but she knew that meant little. Métamorphes didn't need to run. When the air pressure around her dropped as if a storm were coming and the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise, she knew they'd found her.

The horizon had somehow gotten exponentially darker, storm clouds rolling in out of nowhere. Her eyes scanned the street, still relatively populated and full of civilians gawking at the freak storm, but she was looking for somewhere to hide or some alley where she could transform. She knew her pursuers were gaining.

Then she sailed around a corner and spotted it, an alley tucked between a tailor's and a townhouse. Just as she ducked inside, her phone buzzed again.

This time, she answered without hesitation.

"Mari!" Tikki's voice screamed at her though the speaker, her tone urgent and panicked.

"Tikki?" She turned to face the mouth of the alley, searching for a sign she'd been followed but seeing none. "Tikki, I can't talk, I need to tran-"

Just as she was ready to hang up her her mentor, she felt it. A cold prick at the base of her neck. Her limbs lost the ability to function and she collapsed on the pavement, her head cracking audibly against the blacktop.

A woman sighed, her voice somehow close but miles away at the same time, and Marinette felt fingers brush hair back from her face.

"Fix that, would you Paon? We don't want to bring the boss damaged goods," she tried to make out the woman's features through the haze in her vision and the shadows falling across her face, but was distracted when something touched the wound on the back of her head and an agonizing fire flashed through her. She closed her eyes and gritted against the pain, panting in heaving breaths once it subsided.

"Oh, I like this one. Screamers are _so_ annoying," the woman's voice sounded again, and Marinette struggled to open her eyes.

"Okay, enough," the woman's voice turned bored. "Serpe? Lights out."

Marinette felt something weave in between her legs and tried to shout, but felt the world slipping from her grasp. What sounded like a cat hissed in the distance. For some reason, that felt important, but she was too busy trying to blink through the sudden drowsiness to focus enough to make the connection.

The last thing she heard was a woman's cold laughter floating through her subconscious.

" _Night, night, little girl."_


	19. Chapter 18

"Goodbye, Adrien," the whispered farewell echoed in his head. Adrien felt the finality of it like a physical blow and each step she took as she walked away like an agonizing tearing at his heart.

That's when it fully hit him.

He was so accustomed to it being him against the world, to protecting himself and his father against all scrutiny that came their way, that he couldn't recognize sincere concern even when it walked up and slapped him in the face. Marinette wasn't a liar. She kept her secrets at first, but she was kind and generous, and above all else, honest. She had nothing to gain from what she'd told him, and once he moved past his own self-righteous anger, he had to admit that he saw the truth in her eyes.

He'd also seen the fear.

She was strong, always fighting her own battles and taking charge of the situation. He'd only known her a week and he could already tell that she was a diamond, thriving under pressure with unbreakable resolve. Yet, defenses down and terrified for both of them, she'd asked for help. She'd come to him, the person who was supposed to be her partner.

But he'd failed her.

He brushed her off; called her a liar-called her _crazy-_ but even as he stood there, being a class-A asshole, she'd stood her ground, her voice calm as told _him_ to _be safe._

And then he let her walk away.

"Fuck," he muttered to himself, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head in anger at himself. He needed to fix this. He needed to fix this _now_.

Opening his eyes, his head whipped around, trying to gather his bearings before he tore across the park in the direction of her house. He wasn't quite ready to believe that his father was actually the notorious Hawkmoth, but his Lady was terrified and thought she was in danger. He couldn't leave her. Not now. Not ever. He wasn't perfect, but he owned up to his mistakes, and this wasn't one he would ever make twice.

He'd run two blocks when he finally caught sight of Marinette, her gait unmistakable as twin pigtails bobbed behind her. He smiled involuntarily. _It wasn't too late._ Then he noticed she was running, her head swiveling in paranoia as if she were a cornered animal looking for escape.

He hurried after her, looking around to see what had clearly spooked her, when his phone rang. He answered it without looking; he could count on one hand the number of people who called him.

"Kid," Plagg's voice rung out, shocking Adrien out of his Marinette-centric focus for a moment. "Where are you? Are you with Mari?"

"About a block from my house and uhh," Adrien hedged, knowing they were supposed to stay apart. "Not...exactly…"

He heard as Plagg murmured to someone in the background and a woman's voice shouted back.

" _She's not answering!"_ The aggravation was clear in Tikki's tone, but Adrien noted something else; something that mirrored what he'd just heard from Marinette.

Fear.

"What did she see?" Adrien asked frantically, trying to get Plagg's attention again as he picked up the pace. Plagg had told him enough about Tikki's powers for him to know they were not something to dismiss. Now she was panicked, unable to contact Marinette, right after Marinette told him she was in danger…

"Shit," he muttered to himself, wanting to bang his head against a wall for what a fool he'd been. There was no denying it now. She'd been right. Of course she had been. Marinette wasn't a liar, as much as he wished she was in this instance because of what it meant for the sham of his family.

"Kid," Plagg's voice warned, picking up on Adrien's tone. "Don't do anything stupid. Stay where you are-"

Adrien didn't wait to hear the rest of his warning, knowing it wouldn't change what he was going to do. When it became clear Plagg wasn't going to answer his question, he hung up, glad to endure his wrath later if it sped his way to Marinette. He could still just make her out down the block, but she'd started sprinting while he was on the phone and he wouldn't catch her. At least, not human.

Spying a small alley, he ran for it, checking quickly over his shoulder but not stopping as he shifted. Vaulting his feline form up to the roof, he relied on his enhanced speed to fly across the block to where she was. His keen eyes scanned the street, finding nothing until his ears picked up her voice.

" _Tikki?"_ He froze, furious tears coming to his eyes as he registered the stress in her words. He immediately swiveled, turning right towards where her voice echoed. " _Tikki, I can't talk, I need to tran-"_

Suddenly Marinette fell silent, and Adrien felt it like a shock of ice through his veins. He ran faster.

He'd made it to the edge of the alley she was in, peering down at her from the ledge his shock burned away the tears.

There she lay, blood pooling from a gash on her head and paralyzed on the ground with a hooded figure standing over her. Two other animals, a peacock and snake that were clearly métamorphes, circled menacingly. The human reached down to brush the hair out of Marinette's face as her eyes darted around in a panic. Adrien felt his body superheat in anger, the glow of his power reflecting off the glass of the adjacent building eerily.

Just as he prepared to jump, he felt a larger body splay across his. With a pained hiss and the sickening smell of burning fur, Plagg dug his claws into the rooftop, effectively pinning Adrien in place. He calmed immediately, annoyed but cognisant of the damage his power could do to his friend at this close proximity.

"Plagg," he gritted out through clenched teeth, his eyes never straying from Marinette as his body tensed and tried to dislodge Plagg's grip.

"No," Plagg hissed, determination cutting through the pain in his voice.

"Plagg," he growled again, but the desperation in his words was evident as he watched the peacock touch its beak to Marinette's head wound, her body going rigid with pain. "I need-"

"No," Plagg's voice was firm but held his own undertone of desperation. "You can't. It won't work. It's too late."

Adrien heard the certainty in Plagg's voice and logically realized Tikki must have seen the consequences of his rescue, but he continued to thrash regardless, making no progress against his mentor. Without using his powers, Plagg was stronger. There was no escape.

" _Okay, enough,"_ Adrien heard a familiar voice echo up to them and froze, daring not even to breath as he turned his attention back to the scene unfolding beneath him. " _Serpe? Lights out."_

Adrien watched in helpless horror as the snake wove infinitely around Marinette legs. It took every ounce of his willpower not to cry out to her as he watched her eyelids slips shut and body go limp.

With a flick of her hand towards the snake, the human woman turned and walked out of the alley, her face obscured completely. He watched in silence as the snaked morphed into a lanky man with broken glasses and the peacock into a muscular woman around twice his bulk. She hefted Marinette onto her back, the man helping to arrange her in a piggy back position before they walked from the alley and disappeared. When Plagg finally let up his hold, Adrien dashed to the street side, but they were gone.

Vanished.

"Kid-" Plagg's voice sounded from behind him and Adrien lost any control he'd been clinging to.

"How could you?" He screamed, his voice echoing in an omnipresence around him. "You just let them take her! We could have done something!"

"We would have been captured ourselves," Plagg took a few tentative steps forwards, but Adrien knew he must be glowing a dangerous green, and Plagg stopped where he was. "Kid, it wasn't the MRA that took her. We can still save her. We _will_ save her."

Adrien just stared at him, realizing Marinette hadn't even told Tikki before coming to him. She'd trusted him first.

Just when he thought he couldn't feel worse, a new low was waiting for him.

"You don't understand," he shook his head and closed his eyes in despair. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does! Kid!" Plagg looked at him in disbelief. "We have a guy on the inside! Marinette's smart. She'll be okay."

"No, you don't get it! It doesn't matter, because they're the same," Adrien shook his head sadly and collapsed onto his haunches. "Hawkmoth is my father," he stated simply, not looking to see Plagg's reaction before continuing. "And he knows what she is... _who_ she is."

Adrien got up, coming to this realization even as he said the words. No wonder she'd been so concerned about the cameras. Not only would they have caught her eavesdropping, but when she heard his name...Adrien could only imagine how palpable her reaction had been. Hawkmoth would know immediately that she was a protector. A normal métamorphe wouldn't know his name, but a protector… There was no charade she could play. Even with a man on the inside, Marinette had already shown her cards.

"But I haven't," Adrien murmured, a half-formed plan concocting in his mind as he started to pace.

"Adrien," Plagg's voice held a warning, but Adrien was done taking orders. It was time he started standing his ground. He looked up at Plagg, the decision clear in his eyes.

"Take me to Fu."


	20. Chapter 19

Marinette came to slowly, blinking back a forced weariness and trying to see through the darkness that surrounded her. Her hand lifted to her head warily, but found no wound there. There wasn't even tenderness from where she knew her head had impacted the ground. Blinking in confusion, she turned to push herself off the cold metal floor and stretched out her hands in front of her. When her fingers made contact with a series of hard objects, she started to feel her way around in the dark and her heart stopped at the realization.

It was a cage.

Her breath started to come in short gasps, but she didn't have time to process this new discovery before the room came to life, lights blinding her even more than the dark as she scrambled into a standing position. She squinted against the spotlights that seemed trained on her, starting to get her bearings when the room began to quake. Grabbing onto the bars for stability, a metallic screech resounded through the room, and what had at first appeared to be metal walls were now patterned with square holes. She watched, her heart beating faster with every second that passed, and waited for what was to come.

The room erupted in chaos.

Arrows, bullets and knives shot from the gaps in the walls and ricocheted in an impossible choreography around the room, their blurring forms dulling the world around her gray. Marinette's first instinct was to shift. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't know who was watching, but she knew she needed to stay alive, and being a ladybug made her faster and a smaller target.

But she couldn't.

She concentrated, remembering the process she followed back before changing forms had become second nature to her, but nothing happened. She would start to feel the hum of her transformation, and then the signal was blocked. Like someone had switched her frequency from FM to AM and no matter how long she searched, the channel just wasn't there. She gripped the sides of the cage in concentration, and that was when she noticed them: two shackles, only the thickness of a typical cuff bracelet, but laying completely flush against her wrists. She couldn't even feel them, the fit was so perfect, but in an instant she knew.

"C'mon," she gritted her teeth, trying even when there was no use. The cuffs must be blocking her. She'd learned firsthand that the MRA could force métamorphes to shift; there was no reason they hadn't figured out how to do the opposite. Still, she closed her eyes, praying that she could somehow force past it, until a burning in her arm knocked her out of focus.

She gasped, looking down to where her shirt had been shredded and where three parallel gashes were now blooming with blood. She glanced up just in time to see another arrow coming her way and, without thinking, summoned a shield to deflect it.

She froze, her eyes travelling down to her still glowing hands in shock. She'd come to control her powers of creation much better in the last few weeks, but she'd never created something so tangible before. Everything had been transient or a mirage, and after that first light show with Adrien, she'd definitely never tried to access her power while human.

The click of metal caught her attention, and she looked up to see a machine gun fire in her direction, and she did it again, creating a shield, perhaps only a few centimeters wide, but directly in the path of the bullets. She continued to do this, blocking weapons and honestly feeling free at the release of power, before she noticed the pattern.

She never got hit. She'd been cut, yes, but no weapon was ever directed towards any vital part of her body. She was shielding well, but they were still only patches. If the goal was to kill her, she'd be dead.

It was a test. Somehow, she knew she was being watched by someone sizing her up, determining what kind of threat she was. Seeing as she was relatively confident in who had kidnapped her, she didn't want to dwell too long on who that someone was.

Two things she knew for certain. One, this was a game, and Marinette was not interested in playing. Two, if she was going to survive, they couldn't know what she could do.

It was risky calling their bluff, but she had to take that chance. The extent of her abilities could be the only leverage she'd have, and she couldn't waste it. Starting to slow her shields, blocking only a few implements her way and allowing a few to even graze her, she started to let her body slip in an act of exhaustion. She shuffled to lean against the side of the cage, blocking one last arrow before collapsing and sliding down to the floor. She let her eyes slide shut and tried to steady her breathing.

As she lay there, weapons still flying above her, she started to second guess herself. Had it been a bit over-dramatic? She had never been an actress, too hesitant in her lies-life had a cruel sense of irony in making her a métamorphe, but that was a gripe for another time-but if there was ever a time to pull out an award winning performance, it was now.

Just when Marinette started to curse herself for thinking it would be so easy, the weapons shut off, the room falling into an eerie silence without the whirring of the machines. The lights dimmed and in the distance Marinette heard a door slide open and two sets of footsteps walk towards her.

They stopped just outside her prison and Marinette felt something she thought was a foot nudge her head. Then it full out kicked her, and the designer in her could distinctly make out the feeling of a woman's ballet flat as it imprinted on her forehead.

"She's actually out," a familiar voice muttered, sounding disgruntled at Marinette's inconvenient fainting. Marinette heard a man hum in concentration just as she placed where she knew that voice from.

The same voice from the alleyway.

The same voice from the Agreste mansion.

Nathalie.

She tried to keep her breathing steady even as she felt her heart start to race. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth...

"Such power," she heard a voice she now recognized as Gabriel's murmur as his footsteps started to circle her cage. "Such control. And so young too! This," he paused, letting out a sigh through his nose. "This is what we're missing, Nathalie."

"You can't seriously be suggesting we turn her," Nathalie scoffed, and Marinette tried not to growl as the woman shoved her shoulder with her foot again. "She's one of them already! You saw how she ran when she heard your name. You're insane!"

"And you are insubordinate," Gabriel's voice was steady in it's reply, but held a barely veiled threat. Marinette didn't know what his abilities were, it was impossible to ever know how many he'd stolen on top of his own, but she felt the undeniable ripple in the air of a transformation followed by an unmistakable electricity as he made his point clear.

"Apologies," she heard Nathalie's choked voice respond, but the electricity stayed. "Hawkmoth," she finished belatedly and Marinette felt him transform back.

Gabriel sighed, his footfalls echoing until he stood by her head again, the rustling of fabric following him as he knelt next to her.

"Oh, Nathalie," he said in disappointment as Marinette felt him push her bangs off her forehead. She willed herself to stay still. "You lack vision. It's always been your problem, but it makes you an excellent assistant."

Marinette heard no sound, but could imagine the way the woman would stiffen at his words. Hell, she didn't like either of them and still wanted to punch him for her.

"The girl just lacks...motivation," Gabriel said as he laid his palm on her forehead. "She will be marvelous," he whispered, his clothes shifting as he stood again. "Or she won't be," he said offhandedly and Marinette heard his footsteps start to fade back towards the door.

"Either way, " he called. "It's time to see what our young protector is made up, hmm? Hang her in the hall."

Marinette heard a door slide shut and swallowed, trying not to read into Gabriel's words.

"Fool, he should have just killed the little statique-lover when we had the chance. Too powerful my ass," she heard Nathalie mutter as her foot connected with her ribs this time. "I don't think so."

Her soft footfalls padded in the opposite direction Gabriel had just gone. Marinette listened as the computerized ping of a keypad sounded and she felt the cage shift and lift.

"No vision?" Nathalie cackled as the cage lifted away from the floor, her voice sounding progressively and progressively smaller. "I'll show him no vision."

Marinette tried not to panic as the cage swung precariously from some top axis, only daring to open her eyes when it screeched to a halt.

She could feel the bounce of the cable she was suspended from and hear the creak of the metal gear, the only thing holding her in place, and dared to turn her head. She took a deep breath and tried to take in her surroundings without looking down. The walls and ceiling were rough, as if carved by hand, and made of a dark gray stone that glistened slightly from moisture. She knew she was impossibly high, but the cavern held the feeling and odor that felt distinctly underground. Steeling her nerves, she looked over the bottom of her cage and gulped. Below her was what appeared to be a central meeting hall, just as Gabriel had said, that kept with the same minimalist cavemen motif.

The problem? She'd been right about the height. It was ten stories down, and, unable to shift, Marinette was now even more screwed.

"Shit."


	21. Chapter 20

Alya skidded to a stop in front of the Dupain bakery, her heart beating out of her chest for more reasons than her sprint over there.

"Alya!" Sabine, Marinette's mother, rushed over to her, brushing past the police officer she had been talking to and enveloping Alya in a tight hug.

"I didn't see your message until this morning," Alya wrapped her arms around the woman who was like a third mother to her and held her tightly. "My moms both had the night shift, so the twins and I were at my cousins. What's going on? Is there any news?"

She pulled back and looked at the petite woman. Sabine was obviously worried beyond belief, but there was a fierce fire in her eyes.

"She didn't call you?"

"No," Alya surveyed the scene, noting the two police officers now questioning Marinette's dad Tom, before she looked back at Sabine. "I texted her after we left from working on the group project yesterday. She never responded, but, you know…" Alya shrugged and Sabine sighed. They both knew Marinette had bouts of inspired designing during which she would ignore the world. The girl could also fall asleep anywhere and at the drop of a hat. Alya had just assumed she didn't respond for one of those reasons.

"She never made it home yesterday," Sabine shook her head sadly, and Alya saw the tears she was trying to conceal spring up in the mother's eyes. "I didn't want to worry. Marinette knows this city so well and has been exploring it on her own for years. Sometimes she gets distracted and is hard to reach, but I trust her to be cautious and she always comes home. Alya," Sabine grabbed her hand and squeezed. "She wouldn't just disappear like this."

Alya squeezed back, her mind already spinning through possibilities and piecing together what she could of when she last saw Marinette and places she might be.

"Can you-"

"I'll call all our friends, see if anyone has heard anything. You just focus on helping the police," Alya finished for her before Sabine could even ask and the woman managed a small smile before Tom came over to tell her the police had more questions.

Alya forced herself to look away from the scene and pushed back her worry. Sabine was right, Marinette would never just disappear without saying something. She loved her parents and wasn't prone to bouts of drama. She'd certaining never make them worry needlessly. If they couldn't find her, something had happened. But she was also smart and surprisingly strong for a girl her size. Alya just had to hope that wherever she was, she could hold on until they found her.

In the meantime, she put on her reporter hat and steeled her determination. Scrolling through her messages, she found the two people she needed.

 _Meet me now_ , she sent the message and dropped them a pin to the location of a nearby park.

Not ten minutes later, Nino came running up to her.

"What is it?" He asked, still gasping for breath, and she was absentmindedly pleased that he's taken her request so seriously and without question. "I have class in a half hour-"

"Marinette's missing," she cut him off. "Where's Adrien?"

"Marinette's missing?" He narrowed his eyes at her in confusion and she subconsciously stored the expression away in her mind for later when she could reflect on how adorable it was, but now was not the time for that.

"Yes, she never made it home last night and the last person I saw her with was lover boy," Alya explained quickly.

"Woah, Adrien would never-"

"I don't care," Alya interrupted him again. As admirable as it was that he immediately came to the defense of his best friend, _her_ best friend was missing and she didn't have time to worry about offending people or stepping on toes. "He didn't answer my text, and I need to talk to him."

Nino opened his mouth to respond, but seemed to think better of it. Holding up a finger for her to wait, he hit a button on his phone and put it on speaker. Alya bounced from foot to foot impatiently as the phone rang only to let out a disappointed sigh when he didn't answer. Nino looked down at his phone quizzically, the expression enough to tell Alya that Adrien not answering his calls was definitely abnormal. Nino tried again to the same result.

"Something's going on," he looked up at Alya who gave him a _no duh_ expression in return, but he hurried to explain. "His father has him on a crazy extracurricular schedule, but he isn't supposed to have anything this morning…" Nino's voice trailed off, but Alya recognized the inspired light that came to his eyes easily. "Hold on, maybe…"

He started tapping on his phone furiously, his face lighting up triumphantly when he held the phone up in Alya's face. She pushed it away a bit to focus on the image. It was a map of Paris, with a cartoon version of Adrien strolling leisurely down a nearby street.

"I kept telling him to turn off the location function when he's not using the app, but he always said since I'm his only friend on it, it doesn't really matte-"

Alya had stopped listening, slapping his face between her hands and planting a kiss directly on his mouth.

"You're a genius!" She exclaimed and grabbed his hand to pull him in the direction that Adrien was. "Let's go!"

"Mhmm," his dazed response sounded behind her as he shuffled to keep up.

Facing forwards and out of his sight, Alya blushed at her forward action, but pushed aside her own freak out for later. She had a blonde to interrogate.

* * *

Nino kept swallowing past his dry throat and trying to focus on following Adrien's progress on the map. Between that and keeping up with Alya's hurried pace, one would think he wouldn't have time to think about what just happened. Unfortunately, Nino was an excellent multitasker, and his lips were still tingling. Alya had turned, immediately back on task, but Nino had seen the small blush that rose to her cheeks. He was a mess, but she wasn't entirely unaffected.

He'd definitely developed a crush on the curly haired girl since he'd met her a week ago, but he never expected this. Alya seemed to work entirely on gut feelings. If kissing him had been one of them, he wasn't going to argue. He only hoped the impulse went beyond the heightened emotions of their situation.

 _Their situation_.

That brought him back to reality. He'd known Marinette only as long as he'd known Alya, but he already considered her a friend. It went beyond the way his boy lit up every time she was near him. She seemed like a genuinely kind person, with a sharp wit and a keen eye. He never managed to get the full details on how she and Adrien had met, but his boy wasn't the only one enamoured. Marinette looked at him like he hung the stars.

It wasn't just the starstruck way people usually regarded Adrien once learning who his father was. In fact, Marinette seemed to be almost...uncomfortable with that connection. No, even just being in the room with them together twice, Nino could tell it was something more. They moved in a perfectly choreographed dance, knowing where the other is instinctively and moving in the synchronization of a couple ten years in, not two weeks.

It was boggling, but the sad light that seemed ever present in Adrien's eyes dimmed when she was around. If she was missing, he knew Adrien would move heaven and earth to find her, and he wasn't going to let him do it alone.

"Hang a left," he piped up and Alya turned without question, trusting in their easy partnership as much as he had when he'd seen that text this morning.

He looked back down at his phone.

"Okay, he's should be-" he broke off with a huff as he made contact with Alya's back.

"Shhh," she hissed and pushed him behind a plane tree that was much too narrow to actually hide them as she peered down the street. He looked around her and spotted him too.

There, on the opposite side of the street but walking in their direction, was Adrien arguing with an Asian man about a decade older him.

"Who's the hottie?" Alya wondered aloud as she took out her phone and started snapping pictures of the two in true reporter fashion. He tried not to feel jealous at her comment, she had kissed _him_ earlier, and focused on Adrien's expression instead.

His face was impassive, the same indifferent look he got whenever his father need to have a "discussion" that was actually just a critique of everything Adrien was doing wrong in life; yet Nino didn't get the feeling that his veiled anger was directed at the man beside him. As they got closer, Nino noticed how Adrien would roll his eyes fondly at the older man and the way the man would in turn look over at Adrien in concern when his attention was elsewhere. Adrien clearly trusted him, and he didn't look like he was in danger, but his eyes were troubled. When Nino gaze dropped and he noticed the aggravated way Adrien's fingers flicked by his side, he came to a realization.

"He knows," Nino stated simply and turned to find Alya's eyes already on him.

"That's what I was thinking, but you know him better," she looked back across the street, taking another photo as the two stopped almost directly across the street from them. Nino pulled her a little more behind the tree, just in case either of the men turned in this direction.

"He's worried about something, though."

"How do you know?"

"Look at his hands. See how they're twitching?" Nino pointed briefly to what he was referring. "He's playing the piano. It's the one extracurricular his father forces him into that he actually enjoys. He does that whenever he's stressed."

Nino looked over with a concerned expression himself now. He hadn't seen Adrien do that in years, but his friend's anxious tic sharply reminded him of a much darker time in the blonde's past.

Piano was how they met, or rather, the music studio was.

Nino was an aspiring DJ and had a deal with a music studio down the street from his house to use their soundproofed rooms after closing. Adrien had been going there since he was a child, but the two never crossed paths, Nino always careful to come after the paying students left. But after Adrien's mother died, he'd sought refuge in that very same studio, picking up extra lessons whenever possible and staying well past his scheduled time. The owner had known him since he was a child, and took pity on him, giving Adrien a key and letting him use the space whenever he wanted. It was how Nino had run into him the first time, completely unaware of who he was or what he was going though. They became fast friends and would often meet there to mix until Adrien managed to convince his father to let him attend the same school as Nino.

The look on his friend's face now took him back to the boy he had met all those years ago. Nino knew without a doubt that Adrien knew something had happened to Marinette, just as certainly as he could already tell his best friend was blaming himself for whatever had happened. As Adrien followed the Asian man into the inconspicuous apartment building, Nino couldn't help but fear what had happened to Marinette. If his boy looked the same now as he had after his mother died…

"We need to follow them," Nino spoke but turned to find Alya already walking across the street.

"Oh good," she spared a moment to glance back at him with a mischievous smile. "So you won't try to stop me then?"

"Somehow I doubt that'd be a good idea even if I disagreed," he murmured, speeding ahead of her and grabbing the door just before it swung shut and locked.

"Smart boy," she winked, passing him into the stairwell. The door clicked behind them and they both fell silent, Alya taking the first step forward as they followed their targets.


	22. Chapter 21

Adrien felt like he'd been arguing with Plagg all night. His mentor was firmly against taking the boy to meet Fu, correctly guessing that he would not like whatever plan he was concocting, but Adrien was just as adamant in his stance that either Plagg could take him, or he'd find his own way there. Somehow.

After hours of being chided by Plagg and interrogated by Tikki, who happened to share an apartment with him, the night culminated in a stalemate with them both passed out on the living room floor. Adrien had woken up the next morning on the couch to the hushed argueing of the two protectors. Plagg clearly lost the argument when Tikki rolled her eyes at him and instead looked to Adrien.

" _Get ready,"_ she'd commanded. " _We leave in 10."_

And that was how he ended up walking through the brisk morning air, not towards school like he should have been, but instead to meet a mystic guardian who had started his path to this whole mess in the first place. Not that he would change being a protector, it was just nice to be able to blame someone other than himself for a moment.

Tikki had flown ahead to warn Fu that he was going to have company while he and Plagg walked at an agonizingly slow pace down the street.

" _Warn him_ ," Plagg kept muttering to himself, as if the idea that Fu would need warning was ridiculous. Plagg had always referred to Fu in a magical sense, but Adrien it was in a sarcastic way. He was only now starting to wonder just how much he didn't know about the guardian and the protectors in general. How much more he should have asked.

His pondering of his interrogative shortcomings were interrupted when Plagg came to an abrupt stop in front of a nondescript apartment building. Without a word, he opened a hidden keypad and typed in a code before opening the door with a flourish and ushering Adrien inside. He was reminded that until recently, Adrien hadn't known how close Plagg was with the guardian, that the man was practically a surrogate father to him. Adrien was essentially walking into Plagg's childhood home. On any other occasion, he'd be excited to get a glimpse into the a part of his past Plagg held so close to his chest. As things stood, Adrien was too nervous for Marinette and about what he was proposing to think much past the roaring of blood in his ears.

They walked up three flights of stairs and turned towards the corner apartment. Before they even came to a complete stop a shout sounded from within.

"Come in!"

Plagg rolled his eyes but smiled fondly as he pushed open the unlocked door.

"Still freaky, Fu," he called in what seemed to be a habitual refrain as he closed the door behind them.

"Still snarky, Plagg," Adrien heard a voice echo back. He smiled, but Plagg was already distracted, walking immediately to Tikki's side as she stood staring out the window. She jumped a bit when he touched her shoulder, and they exchanged a few hushed words before she nodded. Hurrying to wipe her face, she turned to smile softly at Adrien and motioned to the mats and thin pillows on the floor of the small apartment for him to sit. He followed, glancing back at Plagg's concerned expression. Before he had a chance to speak, though, the man behind the curtain walked out.

Fu was shorter that Adrien expected. Stout, but not in an overweight way. He held himself with the posture of a warrior, although the lines on his face and arch in his back indicated his days of physical combat were long behind him. Still, the intelligent glint in his eyes and cock of his head told Adrien this was a man he wanted on his side in a battle. There was more than one way to be a fighter.

"Ah, Adrien. Welcome. Nice to meet you," he smiled down. "Officially, at least."

Adrien instinctively liked the man, but when he motioned for the boy to take a seat, Adrien refused. He couldn't sit right now, get comfortable when Marinette was suffering who knows where at the hands of...at the hands of…

He shut his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose, still not ready to believe it. Definitely not ready to admit it.

When he opened his eyes again, Fu was still staring at him, but his eyes had turned kind.

"Why don't you tell me what you came here to say, my boy," his voice was low but it carried throughout the room effortlessly and Adrien felt calmer in his presence. Like he had all the answers as long as Adrien asked the right questions.

"I messed up," he said out loud for not the first time in the last twenty-four hours. Tikki had probably clued Fu in on the basics of everything that happened, but Adrien felt the overwhelming need to explain himself.

"Kid, stop being so hard on yourself-" Plagg started again, but Adrien just looked at him with a shake of his head.

"Plagg, no. She was scared, and she came to me because she trusted me. I essentially laughed in her face," he looked sadly at his mentor. "I messed up."

"Yes," Fu's voice answered and Adrien turned to face him again. "But you are still a child, burdened with much responsibility."

Adrien laughed derisively at his comment.

"I haven't been a child in years. My...My father wouldn't allow it," he stumbled over his words, remembering the pain of his mother's disappearance and subsequent murder investigation keenly. His father had taken him with him to identify the body, and it was an image Adrien prayed each day would be wiped from his memory. Adrien supposed it was meant to toughen him up, show him the harsh realities of the world, but all it had done was make his young self inconsolable.

He'd been given a small amount of time to grieve and then had been expected to grow. Little boys cried for their mommies, but Adrien wasn't just any boy, and his father wasn't the coddling type. _This is the way of the world_ , he'd told him exactly seven days after the funeral. _You need to be stronger than this or it will eat you alive._

At the time, Adrien had regarded it as a father-son moment, his father showing his love through his worry over Adrien's ability to continue on after tragedy. Perhaps it was the beginning of a true relationship between them, bound together by their strength through this tragedy.

He'd clearly been mistaken. Not a week later, Gabriel threw himself even more passionately into his work, and Adrien had long since stopped hoping for bonding time with his father. He was lucky for the moments that Gabriel seemed to even remember that he had a son, even if they did usually occur as a result of some error on Adrien's part.

No, he'd been on his own for nearly half his life now. The day his mother died was the day he ceased being a child; the day he became solely responsible for himself. He thought through the years that he'd finally recognized his father for what he was, choosing to put his faith in the family he made instead, in his friends, but he'd been naive in thinking his father had no influence over him. Hard as he tried, Adrien still craved his approval, and the moment someone dared to speak ill of him, he had shut down and lashed out. All his deep rooted insecurities about his father welled up, and Adrien attacked anyone within striking distance.

Why did it have to be her?

"No," Adrien repeated, shaking himself from his thoughts. "If I had just listened to her instead of letting my emotions cloud my judgement, Marinette would still be here. She'd be...safe."

Fu regarded him for a few moments, pursing his lips as if he was somehow reading all the unspoken meaning behind Adrien's words. Finally, he nodded.

"What will you do to make it right?"

Adrien blinked at the simple statement, caught off-guard. He had a plan, as unprepared and crazy as it was, but he'd been expecting more of a fight. Someone to tell him to sit down, let the _real_ protectors handle it, he'd caused enough problems as it was. Yet, Fu did none of that. He continued to sit calmly, accepting Adrien's judgement of what had happened seriously without trying to contradict the validity of his feelings, and waited for him to continue.

"I'm going to go get her," he responded, a bit dumbfounded and completely forgetting everything he had planned to say.

"Just walk in and bring her back?" Fu challenged. "You don't know what is waiting for you and you don't even know where they are."

"But we could find out," Tikki interjected, coming to stand next to Adrien, and he felt better knowing he had at least one ally, angry as she was at him for what happened to her chosen. "Wayzz knows."

Fu just shook his head.

"Wayzz risked much to get us that first warning. I suspect he is not in Hawkmoth's good graces, and there was something...off about his message. Something strained," Fu shook his head, his face taking on a perplexed expression for the first time. It looked odd on the man's face. "I don't believe we will hear from him again until this is all over."

Tikki sighed, looking crestfallen and Adrien gritted his teeth.

"I can get in," he declared and he heard Plagg sigh behind him. Adrien could vividly imagine the way his mentor would roll his eyes heavenward as if asking _what did I do to get saddled with him? Why me?_ But Adrien paid it no heed. He didn't need Plagg to agree with him on this. He was already decided.

"I can get in," he repeated, gulping as he prepared himself for the next words out of his mouth. "Hawkmoth...He's...my father," he choked out eventually, his eyes darting to gauge Fu's reaction, but the man's face remained impassive.

"He's my father," he said again. "And if anyone can win his trust and get Marinette, and maybe even Wayzz, out of there, it's me. I'm doing this."

He looked around the room through narrowed eyes, daring anyone to challenge him. Of course, someone did.

"No, absolutely not," Plagg's voice rumbled from where he still leaned against the window.

"Plagg," Fu started, but his mentor wasn't done.

"No! Fu!" He exclaimed, walking towards the elder and looking incredulous. "It's too dangerous! We don't even know what the kid is getting himself into!"

"Plagg, he has a point, though," Tikki tried and Plagg turned his angry eyes on her.

"Don't you start too. If it were Marinette," he accused. "There was no way you'd let her do this."

"And if it were Adrien kidnapped, you'd be just as desperate for someone to help," she countered back, her voice calm against his rage and Adrien watched as Plagg's eyes softened in understanding, though his body remained tensed.

"Tik-"

"Look, quesito. I'm not too keen on your boy right now," Adrien cringed at her words, but didn't protest. "But you know, I would never deliberately put either of our kids in harm's way if there was any possible way to shelter them from it."

"I know," Plagg responded, his voice much quieter, but resigned as her logic seemed to seep in.

"The ugly truth is, they are stronger together," Tikki shrugged. "I've _seen_ it. I don't like it, but I've _seen_ it."

Plagg stared into her eyes before bowing his head, accepting her words.

"Then I'll go with him," Plagg announced. "Separately, of course, but at least I can be nearby-"

"Absolutely not, "Adrien immediately cut him off. "No one else is putting themselves in danger if they don't have to."

"Adrien, be reasonable."

"Plagg," Fu cut in. "The boy has a point."

Plagg's eyes turned indignant and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"He's not going if I'm not going."

Tikki rolled her eyes. As the two started to argue, Adrien turned and walked towards the door.

"Hey!" Plagg called. "You're not leaving, blondie. Get back here."

"I'm going whether you like it or not, Plagg," he responded calmly. "I won't let you put yourself in danger unnecessarily."

"Kid," his voice turned pleading. "Please, it's my job."

"Not this time," Adrien smiled and yanked open the door, but instead of walking out and making his dramatic exit, he stopped dead in his tracks. Hunched over on another and clearly having been listening through the door were Nino and Alya

"Um, we were just-" Alya fumbled for an excuse as they both straightened up, but then her eyes turned angry and she switched to accusations. "You have some explaining to do."

"Me?" Adrien said indignantly. "You're the one stalking me and-" he cut off in realization. "How much did you hear?"

"Enough," she crossed her arms and fixed him with a the look of a reporter who held all your darkest secrets. His eyes flew to Nino, but his best friend remained silent and settled for just looking guilty.

Adrien opened his mouth to reply, but someone beat him to it.

"Oh good," Fu's head looked at the two eavesdroppers over Adrien's shoulder. "I was wondering when you two would stop by. Come in. Come in."

Adrien, looked back at him in confusion but moved aside to let Nino and Alya pass. They walked forward hesitantly, looking sheepish and a bit scared.

"You were...waiting for them?" He narrowed his eyes at the old man, trying to piece together this turn of events.

Oh course," Fu waved him off easily. "It'll be easier to brief all of the trainees together."

"Trainees?" Alya questioned at the same time Adrien blurted, "Wait...what?"

He looked at his two friends before glancing over at the protectors in the room, confusion etched as clearly on his face as it was on Nino and Alya's. Tikki just smiled looking unsurprised while Plagg rolled his eyes, not in the know but clearly used to their psychic eccentricities.

Fu started chattering to his two friends as he ushered them further into the apartment, saying something along the lines of having sensed the awakening of their metamorphe gene for quite some time. Then he launched into the speech Adrien remembered well, Plagg having given it to him when he was invited to become a protector.

The blonde moved in a daze through the room, the knowledge of what he was preparing to do mixing with the shock of his best friend potentially being his fellow protector.

This time when Fu offered a seat, he definitely took it.


	23. Chapter 22

Marinette woke up to the movement of her cage being transported somewhere again. She shivered, curling further into herself and attempting to ignore how the cold, damp air had seeped into her clothes overnight. Blinking, she tried to clear her head, amazed that she'd managed to fall asleep at all. The night before, she spent hours dozing off only to jolt back awake to the sound of voices or footsteps from below. But noises from the ground weren't the most disconcerting ones. It took her a few hours to notice that not only was she suspended over the main hall, but there were levels of balconies surrounding her, strategic overlook points putting her at eye level with or even below her unwelcoming audience. Every time she would start awake to make eye contact with another person, sizing her up from a balcony.

Some were hostile, their eyes narrowing and lips curling in a sneer as they took in Hawkmoth's prize prisoner. Others were wary, and almost...curious. They regarded Marinette with a mixture of wonder and pity, as if amazed by her very existence but saddened by her fate. She wondered if any of them actually believed in the existence of the protectors before her arrival; knew that there was another path for métamorphes. Hawkmoth had no doubt fed them stories about the guardians, enemies to their own kind and statique-lovers. She still didn't know exactly what his plan was, but Hawkmoth had to have warned them that it was not merely the humans they would contend against were they to try and seize Paris. Yet, the way some regarded Marinette, as if she were a mythical creature come to life, she doubted many believed the truth behind the battle they were preparing to fight.

Throughout them all, though, whether there was hatred or sympathy in their eyes, one observation was constant across the board. They all looked...dull. Not in physical appearance, but the light in their eyes. The spark of life and intelligence that shone from the eyes of most seemed to be covered, as if they were only half aware of what was happening around them. Even more than the chill in the air, it was the haunted look of the people she witnessed that kept Marinette awake the most. Was it simply the dour surroundings, the knowledge of being constrained to secrecy that snuffed the energy out of their lives? Or was it something much more powerful and much less natural?

Marinette sat up, struggling with the recollection of their faces, as her cage continued to move and sway, this time in the opposite direction from where it had come. It passed through a perfectly sized opening in the wall and she was submerged into darkness.

She took a moment to ponder that. Was it so common that they held prisoners in suspension over the hall that they had a well-oiled system or had they created this contraption precisely for her? Either way, she wasn't sure whether to be terrified or flattered. Marinette decided to settle on a neutral middle and tried to arrange her face in an indifferent mask, steeling herself for what might await her once the darkness finally abated. But it stretched on. She could feel that she was still moving, but wherever she was being transported was so deep, any light from the opening to the central hall had long since ceased to reach her.

She started to shiver as the air temperature continued to drop, until finally there was a light in the distance. A few moments later, her cage rattled into an ornate sitting room and she had to squint against the sudden light. Her prison halted to a sudden stop and, though she was still sitting, Marinette was thrown against the bars, he whole body weak from not having eaten in who knows how long and numb from the chill.

"Unlock the cage," she heard a man's voice command as she struggled to right herself and stand, leaning against the side of the cage for support. She felt the barred door click open as she dragged her eyes up to meet Gabriel's where he regarded her with an impassive expression and the farce of a smile. She didn't move to leave her prison, unsure if her legs would even work properly to carry her the few steps forward. She was surprised to see Gabriel's eyes lose some of their edge as he took in her condition and snapped his fingers.

Immediately, she felt hands grab her under the elbows and lift her out of the cage, depositing her on a plush chair. Gabriel turned to give commands to the two women who had lifted her, but she wasn't listening, instead looking around and taking in her surroundings. She hoped her face depicted some variation of dumbfounded wonder even as she analyzed for any possible exits. Weak as she was, she doubted she'd be able to make a daring escape if she tried, but it still gave her hope.

The room was a bizarre contrast to where she'd spent the last twelve to twenty hours-she was just realizing how hard time was to judge without being able to see the sun. The room she was in now, didn't have that problem. Floor to ceiling curtained windows spread across an outwards facing wall, letting in an optimal amount of light without being blinding. Marinette guessed from the quality of light it was late afternoon, and from the amount of sun that beamed into the room, they were facing west-not that this bit of information helped much seeing as she had no idea where they were regardless.

She continued her perusal as she pivoted her head around the room. The walls without windows were lavished with ornate wallpaper. A pale peach color in a brocade design, they felt too chipper for a room owned by a man planning mass genocide, but the opulence didn't stop there. The furniture in the room was sparse but specific. Two arm chairs and a lounge all in complementing fabrics of pastel stripes and florals, with mahogany legs that ended on a vast oriental carpet of similar palette. Marinette would have guessed she was in the presence of the queen or a wealthy grandmother, and yet the person who actually sat across from her continued with the charade of perfect businessman, professional to a fault.

On the wall across from her, there was a singular door. She stared at it with a reckless concentration, but knew in her heart escape wouldn't be so easy. Looking back to Gabriel, she held in a sneer at the amused smile he wore, clearly having watched her size up the room.

"Do you like it?" He smiled at her, although his eyes slanted dangerously. "Nathalie said it was too extravagant, but appearances are everything, and you never know who we'll be entertaining."

He said "entertaining" as if she had not spent the night locked in a cage on display, but she didn't speak.

"You should be flattered!" He continued. "You're our first honored guest."

"Forgive me if I'm not overflowing with gratitude," she quipped back, her voice shaking as she continued to shiver, but her disdain was apparent. Gabriel just smiled wider, as if pleased by this show of life. A spark. Some fight.

"You know," he hedged, leaning back into his chair and regarding her over templed fingertips. "I had a feeling about you from the moment I saw the tape. Nathalie was frantic, of course, seeing that you overheard our little conversation. I could have let her deal with you. It probably would have been safer, but I just couldn't. I knew you were powerful," he paused, letting it sink in that this was something they had done before. Eliminated a threat. He talked as if he had saved her from this fate.

"If you're waiting for a thank you," she looked at him through bored eyes. "I wouldn't hold my breath."

He laughed quietly, as if they were enjoying an inside joke instead of playing a game of mental chess.

"No thanks required," he waved her off, his eyes taking on a mischievous glint that unnervingly reminded her of his son, though with far more menace behind his expression. "What's a few favors between protectors, hmm?"

Her eyes hardened. Marinette could deal with his games, his mental prodding and testing, but he was not a protector. He was _not_ one of the chosen.

"Ah," he took in the change in her demeanor and leaned forward on his knees. "That hit a nerve, didn't it? What's wrong, little protector? Did you not know? We're the same, you and I."

"We are _not_ the same," Marinette gritted out, trying to control her reactions. "I was chosen, you were a trickster and a thief."

He cocked his head at her, no anger in his face, just curiosity.

"Is that what they told you?"

"I didn't manipulate a guardian into activating me and then steal the pithos to serve my own agenda. I protect my own, I don't create them to destroy them!"

"Oh dear girl," Gabriel shook his head sadly. "There is so much you don't know."

He looked at her in pity and Marinette pursed her lips in agitation, trying to keep her voice calm. She really should remain quiet, avoid conversation as much as possible and not give him the chance to manipulate her in the way she knew he had done to so many others. But she couldn't help herself.

"Then why don't you educate me."

He smiled, as if she'd given the right answer and it made Marinette want to throw up.

"First of all, I didn't steal the pithos. It was given to me."

"Yeah, righ-" she started to interrupt but then Gabriel transformed for a split second. Man to butterfly and then back again, but it was long enough for her to feel the chill of his power seep over her as her mouth snapped shut involuntarily.

"Nuh uh uh, my dear," he smiled, the man sitting in front of her again languidly. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to interrupt?"

Marinette struggled for a moment to open her mouth, tears coming to her eyes as nothing happened. She started to panic, her breath coming in short gasps but unable to open her mouth to get the oxygen she desperately craved.

"Are you going to behave?" Gabriel looked at her with disinterested eyes, and she nodded. Anything to get air. He transformed rapidly again and she felt her jaw slacken. She bent over and opened her mouth to start gasping for air. Her mind sprinting through realizations of what this man was capable of.

"Now, where were we," he tapped his chin. "Oh yes. The pithos. I didn't steal it my dear, Nooroo gave it to me. We were partners you see, that is, until he had a change of heart," Gabriel scoffed and Marinette felt her heart start to race faster as she continued to gasp for air. Nooroo had been the guardian before Fu, but all he said was contradictory to the legends she knew.

"No," she straightened in the chair and responded, risking his control again, but needing to rectify what he was saying with what she knew. "No, you took the pithos and stole some of its power."

"Again with the thievery. I didn't _steal_ anything. You're not listening!" Gabriel rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Marinette, do you know what I was before all this?"

He looked at her as if actually waiting for an answer. She shook her head.

"A chemist. A brilliant bio-chemist," he added with no attempt at humility. "It's what has given me the leg up at the MRA. Not only do I understand how DNA functions in the body, but I know what makes it tick. Even as a boy before I knew I was one, I devoted my life to studying the legend of métamorphes, fascinated by the possibilities. And when I met Nooroo," he shrugged with a smile. "Let's just say he was as desperate for a friend as I was for knowledge. Being the sole guardian of a hidden race can be terribly lonesome."

"So you manipulated him into making you a protector and then betrayed and stole from him. You went around activating and killing métamorphes for your own power, leaving Nooroo with the blame for your wretchedness," Marinette finished the story.

"The state of your education!" Gabriel exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Is this really what your precious guardian is teaching you?"

"It's the truth!" Marinette was adamant, standing her ground and refusing to let him manipulate her like he did Nooroo. "He assembled the protectors-the _true_ protectors- to recover the pithos you took and prevent more needless deaths."

"No, my dear," Gabriel shook his head in pity. "I didn't betray Nooroo, he betrayed me. You see," Gabriel sat back, pausing as he looked at her with a nostalgic smile. "We were partners."


	24. Chapter 23

Marinette sat in the marble bathroom-that so closely resembled the mausoleum that was Adrien's house-and let herself cry. She prided herself on being able to keep it together for this long, but after the last twenty four hours, in this one moment of privacy, she needed to release everything she'd been suppressing for fear that it'd be used against her.

As she took in the stark, windowless washroom-the room hidden behind the door she'd previously hoped held the key to her escape-Marinette tried to process everything Gabriel had told her.

According to Hawkmoth, he and Nooroo had not only been friends, but they'd been partners for a time. Alchemy had always fascinated Gabriel, something he could never admit to his friends and colleagues in university who considered the lost study a fool's science, if it was even science at all. In Nooroo, Gabriel found a willing listener and a capable mind. Gabriel had merely been a student when they'd met. A late bloomer for a metamorphe, not transforming for the first time until he was nearly twenty, he enough of an anomaly that Nooroo broke the rules, enjoying the conversations of an adult where he'd come to expect the confusion of children.

After guiding Gabriel through his first transformation, they continued to meet. Ever the scientist, Gabriel started to hypothesize about the pithoi and their powers. Together, he and Nooroo began to question the ancients texts, wondering if there was more yet to be unlocked. After a while, Nooroo began to reveal more and more to the young metamorphe, and when Gabriel found out about the protectors, he was enthralled. It was the magic of alchemy that he'd always dreamed of come to life! The metamorphe gene was in their blood. But the pithos held the power to take it one step further. It had the power to unlock dormant abilities in the "chosen ones" and it was more than Gabriel could resist. A centuries' old secret guarding an entire facet to their physiology that no one had ever explored before. It was unknown, and both men had always loved a mystery.

That was how he convinced Nooroo to activate him as a protector. For the sake of science. But, despite his new powers, it still wasn't enough. Gabriel was sure there had to be more; so the two continued their hypothesizing and started performing experiments, testing the interaction of a protector with the pithoi even after activation.

Until one day, something went wrong. The fifth pithos, the pithos of manipulation, reacted when Gabriel touched it. Up to this moment, only Nooroo had ever handled the pithoi, aware of the ancient rules stipulating that only the guardian shall handle them and wanting to control their experiments to avoid any accidental reactions. Even though the scientist in him agreed with this protocol, Gabriel had handled others in secret, curious as to the root of this particular warning. Despite this curiosity, he had never touched the fifth pithos until that day.

The powers he had developed upon activation manifested in an ability of persuasion, and while this particular pithos aligned most closely with the power he already held, some ancient instinct made him wary, so he stayed back. Still, when he accidentally bumped into the table and the pithos started to tumble off, Gabriel reacted instinctively to catch it, a portion of its contents spilling onto his hand. He'd cleaned it off immediately, careful to replace the pithos in exactly the correct spot before he left and hoping his partner would be none the wiser.

All seemed to be fine until that night when he'd brushed by someone in the street and felt his body go cold. He halted his steps, grabbed the man's arm, skin on skin, and watched as the stranger cried out in pain, transforming from man to beast right before his eyes. Gabriel didn't let go, watching in morbid fascination as the beast howled until his eyes went lifeless. Gabriel felt the last of his power surge through his body before he dropped the corpse and walked on. He'd never felt so invigorated in his entire life. He'd never felt such power. And when he transformed that night, he discovered the butterfly was no longer his only form nor was persuasion his only ability.

Marinette shivered, remembering the cold smile that had spread across Gabriel's face as he retold this version of history.

"I realized then that not only had I gained the power to do what only the pithos could, but that I could draw the métamorphe out of anyone with even a semblance of the gene. The possibilities were endless!" His eyes took on a maniacal gleam. "We had thought that métamorphes were limited to two forms, one power, but we were wrong. There is so much more!"

"But, you killed a man," Marinette had replied, aghast, and Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Three," he corrected easily and Marinette felt sick to her stomach. "For science! One is a fluke, two is a hypothesis, but three...Well, it's not a theory, but it's evidence."

"I imagine Nooroo had a different perspective," Marinette replied monotonically, grateful for the first time that she hadn't eaten in a day as Gabriel continued with his story.

Nooroo definitely had a different reaction to Gabriel's revelation, and when Gabriel went back the day after he'd told his friend the "exciting" news, the guardian was gone, the pithoi with him.

"Next thing I know, I'm being hunted," Gabriel says with a sneer. "My friend-my partner- had betrayed me."

Marinette had stared at him, watching his eyes vacillate between past and present, but he did not continue his story. As much as she wanted this conversation to be over, she had to ask.

"Then you disappeared. If you had the ability to activate and...absorb… métamorphes, how did you hide all these years."

"I'm no more a murderer than I am a thief, M. Dupain-Cheng," he replied coolly. Marinette would beg to differ, but remained silent. "I killed three for science, but when the protectors came after me, she…" He broke off, clearing his throat and rearranging his face back into an impassive mask. "Someone made me see that there was a better way," he finished and stood, signaling the end of the conversation, but Marinette wasn't done.

"This is the better way?" She asked incredulously and his eyes flickered dangerously.

"A version of it, yes," he replied without hesitation. "I have confidence you will agree. Now, you are still shivering and I am sure you are hungry," he walked over and pressed a button on the wall she hadn't noticed. "There is a washroom through that door with all you need and food will be sent up. We will speak again shortly."

With the press of another button, he disappeared- though through where, Marinette couldn't figure out.

And that was how she ended up hyperventilating in the most expensive bathroom she'd ever been in.

Logically, she knew everything he said could very well be a lie, but a gut feeling gnawed at her. Even if the man could not be trusted, she had a sinking feeling that what he said held more fact than fiction. Even choosing to ignore that inkling, at the very least Marinette finally figured out why everyone here looked liked a zombie.

Gabriel's primary power had something to do with persuasion, and then he'd been touched by the pithos of manipulation-something Marinette hadn't even known existed, but she went with it. If both these things were true, and her experience under his control earlier indicated that they were, then it was very likely he controlled everyone in this complex. It was clear from earlier that while he needed to be shifted to give the command, it stayed in place until he told decided to release you. Marinette wondered if that was a little added bonus of being force-activated and "recruited" into his army: "Here, have some mind-control with your transformation!"

The only person she'd seen not under such control was Nathalie and...her. Why hadn't he tried to control her yet? Either she wasn't enough of a threat...or he planned to use her for something. She didn't like her odds either way.

Collecting her strength, Marinette moved through the motions in the washroom. Luxuriating under the heavy pour of the nearly scalding water in the shower for far longer than she usually let herself and wrapping herself in multiple layers of the clothes offered, she knew this royal treatment was not going to last. Whatever Gabriel was tried to bribe her into, it wouldn't work. That didn't mean she had to ignore the benefits of the luxurious room while she still could.

When she stepped out of the steamy bathroom, her eyes immediately located the tray of food sitting at the center coffee table, laden with sandwiches and water bottles. She rushed it savagely, eating her fill before sinking back into the couch. Looking at the leftovers, she decided to tuck a few water bottles in the waistband of her pants, thankful that the multiple oversized sweatshirts she'd layered on were enough to hide her extra bulk. After a moment's hesitation, she reached down and tucked a few sandwiches up her sleeves, too. Was it the most hygienic? No, but when she was starving later, she doubted she would care.

Hearing a gush of air from the corner of the room, she immediately sat back, trying to look nonchalant.

"Ah, good. Feel better?" Gabriel walked in seeming to have moved through a wall to do so and regarded her. When it was clear she was not going to start overflowing with her thanks for the clothes and food, he continued. "Well, I'm sure it's much nicer than that cage. I, of course, would like to give you better accommodations…"

He trailed off, looking at her expectantly, and this time she did respond.

"In exchange for what, exactly?"

He smiled, happy to have her playing along.

"I think we could be mutually beneficial to each other," he continued with a smile that did nothing to fool Marinette as to his intentions. "After all, you seem like a clever girl and now you know the truth! What you can do now even restrained is extraordinary. Unprecedented, really. Imagine how, with the right pithos, your powers could be amplified!"

Marinette remained silent, her mind spinning out of control as she read between the lines of what Gabriel had just said. Unprecedented he'd called her powers, and yet her deflections earlier were only a glimpse of what she could actually do. Tikki had told her of the other protectors powers and Marinette knew she that while she was growing fast, the other protectors were just as astonishing. Yet, Gabriel clearly had never seen powers like hers before. He had an entire complex of métamorphes, activated into pseudo-protectors with the power he'd stolen all those years ago, and not one showed her level of strength? Why? Did it have something to do with his control? Did it damper abilities? Is that why he hadn't controlled her yet? Or was it something more. After all, the power he'd absorbed from the pithos may have given him the ability to activate the extra abilities in métamorphes, but it was only one of seven pithoi. There had to be seven for a reason. Perhaps it made his army only one-seventh as powerful...or one-seventh as stable.

She frowned, not wanting to consider how volatile that could be. She turned her mind to his other offer and froze realizing that was true reason she was still alive. He need her, as a willing participant or a bargaining chip, it didn't matter. Either way, he needed her alive.

She held her tongue.

After a few more minutes, Gabriel sighed.

"I'd hoped that we could be friends,but I'm just as happy for you to be a pawn instead," he started, shaking his head sadly and lifting a hand to snap his fingers. "But I'll give you some time to think it over. I'm not unreasonable. "

He smiled as if he'd made a joke and two men barged into the room at his command. Gabriel didn't even look at them when he barked out his orders.

"Back in the cage, but put her at the level two observation point. It's more visible."

"Yes sir," the smaller one-if he could even be described as small-responded and for the second time that day Marinette was being manhandled, this time shoved back into the cage. She didn't struggle. It was pointless right now, and she needed to conserve her strength. She needed time to absorb what she'd learned and then she needed a plan.

The larger of the two men transformed into a gorilla, picking up the newly locked cage with ease and walking through a wall she'd formerly thought was solid and directly into the main hall she knew so well, just from a different angle. He shuffled to one side of the vast space and dropped the cage unceremoniously, not a sound crossing his lips save a few grunts. While Marinette was still trying the calm the rattling of her jaw at the impact of her prison being thrown around, the second man transformed into a medium-sized snapping turtle. She blinked, surprised the unassuming creature would be given a post as one of Gabriel's guards, but then the man shot off, scuttling with a shocking speed up the side of the wall and onto the large outcropping she assumed was the level two observation point. Marinette could barely make out the shape of the turtle's head as he peered down at them before suddenly, his neck started to extend without an end in sight. Moments later, she felt his maw clasp onto the top hook of her cage and slowly drag it up the side.

The metal grated against the rock, throwing sparks and screeching unnaturally as she cringed involuntarily. The turtle lugged the cage over the side, backing up so that Marinette had to brace herself as it laid on its side. Then the man transformed back, grabbing the bars and setting the prison back upright with ease.

As Marinette tried to shake off the dizziness of being tossed and rolled, she noticed that the man hadn't moved to leave. Instead, he looked over his shoulder in paranoia and addressed her.

"You're really a protector," he whispered, his eyes coming to meet hers finally. She nodded, knowing the entire complex probably had been told of her presence and there was no use denying it. The man continued to size her up.

"Whose? Trixx's? Pollen's? Plagg's?"

She blinked in shock. She didn't know the other names, but hearing Plagg's...then a distant memory struck her. Tikki had mentioned that they had a man on the inside. His correspondence had been spotty and vague, but this must be him. It had to be. How else would he know those names?

"Tikki," she replied. Apparently, the secrecy thing wasn't as important as everyone had told her, because his face changed immediately, his expression decidedly fond. "You're a pro-"

"Shhh!" He cut her off, looking over his shoulder again. "Don't say anything. Just know...Just know you're not alone. We'll get you out of this."

Marinette opened her mouth to say something. She had so many questions, but in a blink of an eye, he was a turtle again and disappeared over the edge of the outcropping. She watched from her perfect viewpoint as he reached the ground and shifted back, slapping his buddy amiably on the back and walking away.

She watched until he disappeared into one of the corridors and tried to quash the hopeful feeling that had started to rise up in her. She wanted to believe that the man was a protector, that he would somehow get word back to Tikki, but she could rely on that. She'd trusted someone to save her before, and she ended up in a cage. It was safer to assume she was in this alone.

No one was going to save her except herself.


	25. Chapter 24

Adrien was pacing in his room when Plagg jumped through the window. His eyes darted around as if to ask if it was safe. Adrien nodded, watching as his mentor shifted, but the boy didn't pause in his mission to wear a hole through his carpet.

Plagg plopped down onto the couch and Adrien gulped, remembering how he and Marinette had sat right there a few days ago.

They'd been taking a quick break from their research and Alya and Nino-well, mainly Alya-had insisted on popping over to the cafe down the street for some coffee, leaving Adrien and Marinette conveniently alone. It was nerve-wracking at first-they'd both promised their mentors to stay apart except for these necessary study groups, and neither of them were sure of their control yet-but he'd patted the spot on the couch next to him anyway. After a moment, she seemed to give up whatever internal struggle she'd been waging and sat down next to him. When she settled, and leaned into his side, he felt his breath come easier and heart beat steady. She was like...extra oxygen he hadn't known he was missing. He didn't need her to live, but everything was easier when she was there.

" _We shouldn't be doing this,"_ she remarked, but made no move to shift away from him. He lifted his arm to lay it across her shoulders and she melded closer to his side. He could practically hear his body vibrate pleasantly at her proximity.

" _Just a few minutes. Just until the others get back,_ " he insisted and when she responded, he could hear the smile in her voice.

" _You're going to get me in trouble one of these days, chaton."_

Her voice was languid and easy, and when he looked down, he saw her eyes drifting closed, eyelashes dancing across her cheekbones. Her mouth parted and expression relaxed. He'd never seen anything more beautiful.

" _Only the best kind, M'Lady,"_ he promised, and her sleepy smiled stole his heart.

Adrien felt a shiver go through his body as he forced his mind back into the present and his eyes away from the couch. Just another promise he hadn't kept.

"So," Plagg said in a sing-song voice . "How's your day been?"

Adrien looked over at him sarcastically, thoroughly unamused.

"What?" Plagg protested. "This was your idea."

"Don't remind me," Adrien groaned and Plagg's teasing eyes turned concerned.

"Kid," he said softly. "You know you don't have to do this."

"Don't start-"

"I'm serious."

"So am I," Adrien turned to look at his mentor, his eyes kind but posture decided. He let out a sigh and went to sit in the armchair opposite Plagg.

"Look, I know you think it's a bad idea, that I'm not ready and that I don't owe Marinette anything," Plagg went to open his mouth, but Adrien held up a hand to stop him. For once, Plagg listened. "And even if we disagree on the second point, you have to see that I can't leave her in there. You have to know how I feel about her."

"Kid, we don't even know what you two are to one another. This weird bond," Plagg waved a hand in Adrien's general direction. "It's messing with your judgement."

"You're right, we don't know," Adrien conceded. "I know. _I know_ what I feel for Mari. Is it scary powerful? Yes. Is there overwhelming? Yes. Is fifty percent of it just because of our strange métamorphe connection of legends? Possibly, but then there's a part that is so much more. The part that sees every place I've been with her in a new light because it's not mine anymore, it's ours. The part that remembers the way she crinkles her nose when she laughs and bites her tongue when she's concentrating. The part that yearns to watch her roll her eyes at my horrible jokes and smirk when she knows she's outwitted me."

"Adrien," Plagg starts hesitantly. "You've only known her two weeks."

Adrien looked back at Plagg, pulling himself firmly out of his reverie and just smiled sadly.

"And how long did it take you to fall in love with Tikki?"

Plagg sat silent, not bothering to deny Adrien's allegation. Despite a romance between the two of them _technically_ being as illicit as what Adrien had with Marinette, Plagg just nodded at Adrien's question and sank back into the couch.

"Two days," he admitted finally and the two men shared a secret smirk. "So you're really doing this, huh?"

"I'm really doing this," Adrien confirmed, and then gulped, realizing it was now or never. His father would be getting back any minute. "Any words of wisdom?"

"Don't fuck up?" Plagg offered, but then smiled. "And when you need me, I'll be there. Just say the word."

Adrien nodded, and started to move towards the door. They'd spoken of it before, and he had to trust Plagg when he said their connection was enough for the man to get updates on Adrien through his visions into the past. He knew his mentor usually needed physical contact to share a person's memories. Adrien didn't want to think Plagg was lying just to give him some reassurance, but another part of him hoped to god he was lying, or that this was at least a new development. To think what memories Plagg might have been privvy to… Adrien shuddered, shaking off his mortification and trying to focus on the positive. It was a built in lifeline, and regardless of the invasion of privacy and Plagg's usually sarcastic demeanor, Adrien knew the man wasn't lying about one thing. If Adrien needed him, Plagg would be there.

With one hand on the handle, he looked back at his friend and mentor.

"Codeword: cheese?" Adrien teased, and Plagg grinned.

"Codeword: cheese."

Then Adrien walked out into the hall, leaving the warmth of his room and family behind in exchange for the stark marble halls of his childhood home. Walking under the high ceilings and past the barren walls, Adrien tried to muster up some remorse for what he had to do. Any semblance of guilt for deceiving his father in this way.

He found none.

Upon the realization-and acceptance-that his father was a psychopath that had not only killed people but was planning to kill more, Adrien only found resolve in the path he had to take. He didn't relish the idea of betraying his father-for all his faults, the man was his blood and while Adrien's mother was still alive, had been caring in the only way he knew how-but that was then. Now, he'd taken Adrien's girlfriend, and who knows how many other métamorphes, hostage. Adrien was a protector; he wouldn't just sit by and let it happen when he was in a unique position to help.

He trotted down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and veered right, pushing open the ornate doors that led to his father's office. Pausing for a moment, he took in the large portrait he rarely saw in his attempts to avoid his father at all cost. It was his mother just before she died, eyes still gleaming vibrantly and mouth tilted into an impish smile as she hugged a young Adrien close. The portrait was a patchwork of different textures, and the artist had used goldleaf for her hair. That always struck Adrien as befitting. It was as if she radiated sunlight. The artist had known her only a few hours, and seemed to capture her essence to perfection.

Ignoring the longing pang in his chest, Adrien moved on, towards the back of the office and behind his father's desk. After a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the ambiguous watercolor painting hanging on the back wall, his fingers finding the hidden release under the frame, and slid it to the side to reveal a metallic safe. Like everything else in the house, it was electronic, housing a keypad as well as a fingerprint and iris scanner. It had the added bonus of a manual lock as well. Adrien knew he'd never be able to actually open it, but that wasn't the goal. He just needed to get caught.

Taking a deep breath, he started to push random buttons on the control, pressing fingerprints into the scanner to cause every error message possible to pop up. They had a silent alarm, as secretive as everything else in the house, but when he heard the door swing open behind him, Adrien knew he'd succeeded. He thought about pretending to be oblivious to his father's presence in the room, but changed his mind. The goal was for Gabriel to trust him, to take him in as his confidant and to get as close to Marinette as possible. His father suffered no fools, so acting unaware would get him nowhere. He needed a more direct approach.

Adrien turned, meeting his father's eyes, but not speaking.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gabriel finally asked, but Adrien did not lower his gaze. He was done playing the deferential son.

"Getting you attention," he responded calmly and watched as Gabriel's eyebrow twitched. It was the closest to surprised his father had ever looked.

"Are you so desperate for parental affection?" He quipped back and Adrien had to stifle his scoff. As if his father would ever be the person to go to for "parental affection".

"I have a proposition for you," Adrien continued, ignoring his father's sarcasm and approaching him like the businessman he was. His father took a step forwards, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I'm listening."

"You've been grooming me to follow in your footsteps," Adrien stated rather than asked. It had never been explicitly stated, but anyone with eyes could see that the strenuous schedule and curriculum Adrien was forced to maintain correlated perfectly to his father's position at the MRA. Gabriel opened his mouth to respond, but Adrien continued before he had the chance to speak. "It's time you start taking that seriously."

"Excuse me?" His father shot back, almost sputtering his response, if it was even possible for Gabriel to lose his composure that much.

"If you mean to truly prepare me, then you've been neglecting a whole facet of my education," Adrien stated, using all his years of practice to maintain his indifferent composure for what came next. "Haven't you, Hawkmoth?"

Adrien let the name hang in the air between them, watching as his father stood motionless. He didn't know how much time had passed, the racing of his heart a fickle metronome, but suddenly his father smiled, a small twitching of his lip that looked out of place on his austere face.

"Well," he intoned. "This was certainly unexpected. And how, pray tell, did you stumble upon that name?"

"Does it matter? I know everything now. "

"Yes," Gabriel returned immediately, answering his first question. "But I suppose that can wait for another time. As for knowing everything," Gabriel moved on to his statement, looking him up and down. "I highly doubt that, but please. Impress me."

Adrien's eyes narrowed, his face hardening.

"I'm not here to play your game, father. I'm not interested in being a part of your insipid army," Adrien spat, allowing all the animosity he'd held in for years flow into his words. He watched with satisfaction as his father showed some modicum of true surprise at his statement before something akin to pride shone in his eyes. Adrien continued on. "I'm interested in being activated, _in learning_ , not putting on some show. Otherwise, this conversation is over. "

"My, my, my," Gabriel took a few steps forward, smiling at Adrien genuinely for the first time in recent memory. Adrien allowed himself to enjoy it for a moment before remembering the circumstances that brought it into existence. "You suddenly grew a spine when I wasn't looking. I'll admit, I noticed your underhanded manipulations to get what you want, particularly that schooling of yours, but I never thought you'd have the guts to confront me like this. I must say," Gabriel lifted a hand to Adrien's shoulder. "I am proud."

Adrien remained silent, remembering his father's advice from long ago that silence was sometimes the best negotiating tactic. Tell the other side all you were willing for them to know, and then say nothing, giving nothing away and letting them come to their own conclusion. Let them sweat over what you actually have up your sleeve, even if it is nothing. Gabriel smiled wider, watching Adrien's display.

"So you want to be a métamorphe," he finally spoke again and Adrien inclined his head slightly in confirmation. "Well, that can be arranged, but after, if you really want to join me," Gabriel came to stand next to Adrien and slung his arm amiably around the boy's shoulders. "There's something I want to show you first…"


	26. Chapter 25

"If you feed that fish one more time, you're going to kill her," Plagg's voice sounded from the other room and Tikki paused, her hand hovering over the bowl. Bender looked up at her with wide eyes, staring directly at the food still clasped between her fingertips with a look of longing.

"She's still hungry," Tikki protested but heard Plagg scoff.

"This is the third time you've fed her today. Just because you're anxious doesn't mean you get to overfeed the fish."

"Bender doesn't appreciate the way you're speaking for her. She is a grown fish and can decide for herself if she wants more food."

"Tikki, for the last time, Bender is not Ariel."

"Don't tread on my baby's dreams," Tikki gasped. "Besides, she's more of a Belle," she huffed, but then dropped two pellets in Bender's tank with a conspiratorial wink and whispered. "You can be anything you want to be."

"You're ridiculous," Plagg said, now leaning on the wall just behind her. Tikki spun slowly to look at him, used to his stealth.

"I'm nurturing," she shot back and watched as Plagg seemed to realize something.

"Is this about Mari?"

"No," she responded, but knew Plagg heard _yes_ , even if she couldn't make herself say it out loud. Of course this was about Marinette. Here she was feeding her fish, while her mentee was at the mercy of some psychopath. But there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing that would help, at least. She _knew_ that. She'd _seen_ it.

All of yesterday she paced, making up her mind a million different times as to what to do, and none of them changed the ending. There was nothing she could do. It had to be Adrien.

That didn't mean she had to okay with the idea, or that she even had to be calm. Which was good, because Tikki was neither.

Then she looked at Plagg, impossibly serene as ever. Adrien wasn't exactly in a safer place right now and yet here he was, bickering with her like always and taking her away from reality, if only for a moment. He hadn't told her much, but she knew Plagg had been there right before Adrien had talked with his father. Knowing Plagg, he probably found a window to perch on and eavesdrop. Whatever happened, though, he wasn't talking. She know he had to be in a similar shape, but also knew enough to wait for him to come to her. He always did in his own time.

"Why don't you go fly?" Plagg suggested softly. "It usually makes you feel a little calmer."

Tikki sighed, but nodded. It was a good idea, not that she would say that. He already knew it anyway.

Kissing his cheek, she transformed and was out the open window and zooming over the city a moment later. She was basking in the night air, eyes closed against the wind, when something inside of her told her to look down. Knowing well enough by now that nothing good comes from ignoring these feelings, Tikki grumbled a bit but forced her eyes open and her gaze away from the horizon. What she saw made her do a double take, her wings shooting straight up in an attempt to slow her pace.

The girl was in an abandoned park walking the circuit around the rectangular space with a determination that was either admirable or frightening, Tikki wasn't sure. Still, the tension in her shoulders was evident even from a distance and Tikki couldn't leave her in what was obviously an emotional state. With a sigh, she started her descent, careful to hover a few feet behind the girl and look around before shifting. The second her feet landed on the gravel, minute as the sound might be, Alya whipped around, her posture clearly on high alert. Tikki saw as her eyes lit up in recognition, but the girl's guard did not drop.

"Tikki, right? You're Mar-" she took a moment to clear her throat. "You're Mari's person."

It wasn't a question so much as a statement and Tikki watched as the girl stumbled over her friend's name. Confusion warred with hurt in Alya's eyes and Tikki could only imagine what it would be like to feel so close to someone, only to find out there was a whole other part of them you were never privy to. Like they were leading a double life. Add to that, Marinette had been kidnapped, so Alya couldn't even be mad at her without feeling guilty.

"Mind if I walk with you?" Tikki hedged, wanting to talk with her but not comfortable with the boring weight of her gaze. After a moment, Alya nodded, and they started to stroll at a decidedly less rushed pace.

Tikki kept glancing out of the corner of her eye, regarding the girl and trying to get a read on her. This was Marinette's best friend, someone her mentee had talked about fondly on numerous occasions, yet Tikki struggled to find their similarities. Where Marinette wore her heart on her sleeve, Alya was a blank page. Her face was as fierce as Marinette's appeared innocent. Her gait as decided as Marinette's was clumsy. Still, Tikki could see the fear in Alya's eyes, a fear the echoed her own, and she knew that the girl loved Marinette just as much as she did. That she was just as much her family.

They must have walked three laps before Tikki decided to speak.

"She's told me a lot about you," Tikki began and Alya snorted.

"Can't exactly say the same," the girl quipped back, but looked over with a sad smile. There was no anger in her eyes. She was hurt, yes, but mostly, she was afraid.

"She wanted to tell you."

"I'm sure she did. Mari has never been that great at keeping secrets," Alya sighed. "I know it wasn't a matter of trusting me, she couldn't tell me for my own safety, but still. Thinking about all the times she must have been on the verge of being found out, feeling so alone…" Alya shook her head, turning away from Tikki to wipe at an errant tear. "I just wish I could have been there for her."

"You were," Tikki assured her. "Every Time Marinette had a new development in her powers, or learned something new about the métamorphes that was sure to overwhelm her, she went back to you. She went back to her family and was reminded that nothing had changed. That no matter how crazy her life seemed, she had a stable core that would love her and support her no matter what." Tikki stopped for a moment, waiting until Alya faced her. "Although she couldn't tell you, Marinette didn't doubt for a minute whether you were trustworthy enough to keep her secret. She knew it'd be safe with you."

Alya blinked at Tikki, her eyes narrowing slightly in disbelief.

"You think so?"

"I know so," Tikki confirmed. "She tried to convince me to bend the rules, sure that you'd never tell a soul, but I couldn't. It would have put both of you in unnecessary danger. At least this way, one of you could have plausible deniability."

Alya nodded, resuming her walk, smiling back at Tikki.

"I guess it's not a problem anymore."

"No?" Tikki replied cautiously, quickening to match the taller girl's stride. "Does that mean you've accepted Fu's offer?"

"Well," Alya hesitated. "I met with Trixx…"

She trailed off and Tikki tried not to cringe at the girl's tone. It clearly had not gone well and Tikki doubted Trixx had offered up any explanation.

"Let me guess, she was a little hot and cold," Tikki quirked an eyebrow and Alya nodded.

"Yeah," Alya admitted. "Trixx seems nice enough, and although I can tell that training me wouldn't be her first choice, it seems to be rooted in some past experience and not a general dislike towards me. I can work with that," Alya spoke with such surety in her observation that Tikki was shocked. She didn't know how Fu made his choices, but this girl was perfect for Trixx.

As much as she had loved Trixx's last mentee, and as sorry as she was that Karina had not met a kinder end, Alya was just as, if not more, cut out to be a protector. Tikki could tell that Alya's clever wit and keen eye was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Trixx is," she began, choosing her words carefully. "Trixx is older than most of us."

"What does that mean?" Alya looked at her studiously and Tikki tried to contrive an abridged version of the protectory history. It should really be Trixx having this talk with Alya, but someone needed to tell the girl Trixx's story. At least the part that was Tikki's to tell as well.

"There have only been three generations of protectors: the originals, my group, and the current group that is currently only Marinette and Adrien. Each time, a protector is given a mentee to train and pass on the knowledge of protection what makes us métamorphes."

"Okay," Alya intoned. "So, Trixx was the first chosen of your group so she's the oldest?"

"No, she's the youngest of the original group," Tikki supplied and watched as Alya furrowed her brow.

"But I thought you said…"

"Trixx's mentee was taken," Tikki finally blurted out and watched as Alya's face quickly morphed from shock to understanding.

"Taken?"

"Died," Tikki clarified. "For all intents and purposes, at least. We never found her or heard from her again."

"And Trixx never took another mentee," Alya finished and Tikki shook her head.

"Until Fu chose you."

"Makes sense," Alya pursed her lips. "It didn't seem personal."

"It's not," Tikki assured her. "And if this is something you truly want, Trixx is a marvelous teacher...you just have to give her time."

Alya nodded again, looking forward and biting her lip in a rare nervous gesture. Tikki gave her a few moments before speaking.

"Is that the only thing stopping you?"

"No."

"Then, what's your hesitation?"

"It's Mari," Alya admitted. "The rest of the world may be blind to it, but you must know her as well as I do, and I've never met a more determined or resilient person. She bounces back every time, smart enough to see something for what it is and ingenious enough to work her way out of any jam." Alya shook her head, her eyes lost in a reminiscence. "I was chasing down a story once and accidentally led us into a less-than-safe part of town, and I kid you not, Marinette _talked_ us out of a mugging. Literally! She just babbled on and on to the mugger, somehow convincing him that we really weren't worth the trouble," Alya laughed joyously, her eyes sparkling as she turned to look at Tikki. "I don't even know what she said. I don't know if _she_ knows what she said, but we ran out of there, bursting into panic-induced giggles as soon as we were safely away on the metro."

"That sounds like her," Tikki gazed ahead of them, easily imagining Marinette doing just that.

"It does," Alya agreed. "But most people don't recognize that part of her. They don't _see_ her. But I do. _We_ do. And knowing all that she is...how smart and careful she is, and she still was captured? Well…"

"It's enough to give anyone pause," Tikki understood.

"And I think I want this...It feels like I want this...And I know if I did, I could help Mari-"

"Don't make it for that reason," Tikki interjected. "It needs to be personal and not rushed because of the circumstances. You can help in other ways, and Marinette-"

"Wouldn't want that," Alya finished with a smirk. "I know. Still...being able to help people in general? I'm a metamorphe, there's no avoiding that, but being chosen as worthy to protect our kind? Well, it's hard to say no to."

"You don't have to make a decision right now," Tikki started to remind her, but felt her vision shift as something solidified within Alya. She turned back to look at the girl. "Although it seems you already have."

"Damn, that was freaky," Alya looked up at her in awe and Tikki saw the fading glow of her eyes reflected off the girl's face. "I mean I saw it a Fu's, but that was seriously amazing."

"That's one word for it," Tikki muttered but when she looked back at Alya, the girl was pensive.

"Have you seen her?" She asked, hesitant as if she was dreading the answer either way.

"Yes," Tikki admitted, not wanting to elaborate. Alya apparently needed nothing more, reading her eyes perfectly, her own expression hardening into a mask of determination.

"What's the plan, then?"

"The plan?" The question took Tikki a bit off-guard, but she answered. "Well, Adrien's going undercover to get closer to her and hopefully feed us some information-"

"And in the meantime? Didn't you all say you had someone on the inside?"

"Yeah, Wayzz-"

Alya nodded, taking out her phone and taking notes.

"Okay, and what about this Hawkmoth? I know he went around absorbing other métamorphe powers, but do we know what his deal is? How many powers he's stolen? Any idea what he can do?"

"No, not reall-"

"Okay, and the army? Are they all just mindless sycophants or are there some being forced against their will?"

"I don't actually know-"

"Because he's the head of the MRA," Alya continued, looking up as an idea popped into her head. "So in addition to the people he forces to activate, it would be simple for him to find the métamorphes they apprehended and instead of sending them away for _readjusting,_ just add them to his forces. Perhaps even act like he was saving them. Maybe the ones he activates are the same way! He creates them and swoops in as the hero, before Fu even knows they exist. And if he had some variation of mind control power, or anything that he could use to wield his influence..."

"Oh my god, you're right," Tikki finally got a full sentence in, the weight of Alya's analysis laying heavily on her. She'd been so concerned-and rightfully so-with Marinette that she hadn't stopped to consider the implication of learning Hawkmoth's true identity. Were there other people who needed saving as much as Marinette? They knew about the métamorphes taken by the MRA, but with Hawkmoth's power to unearth the métamorphe gene unnaturally, there was no telling how many were activated that Fu never even sensed coming. How powerful was this man? Was that why Wayzz really dropped off the radar?

"Well," Alya stashed away her phone with its notes and leaned over to give a dumbfounded Tikki a brief hug. "If our girl is going to need some help, I better get to work," Alya lifted her hand and with a brief wave to Tikki, turned around and strode away, as if going to find Trixx that instant. It was impossible, but for some reason, especially after that boggling display, Tikki didn't doubt that Alya would manage to pull it off.

Shifting, she flew back into the night sky and home, still fearing for her vision that refused to change, but more at peace knowing Marinette had people watching her back, and they wouldn't go down without a fight.


	27. Chapter 26

Marinette woke up to another morning of darkness. If she ever got out of here, it was going to take her forever to get her sleep schedule back to normal.

 _No_ , she stopped herself. _Not_ if _, when._

She had lost track of time locked in her cage, but knew her imprisonment had to be nearing a week now. Different than her first night in captivity, her food came on a fairly regular basis, and she was let out of her prison four times a day to take care of her necessities. Otherwise, she paced it's small confines, trying to ward off boredom and keep her blood moving by doing squats and getting shockingly good at handstand pushups. She did what she could in the small space.

During the day, or at least when there were the most people in the hall, she was looked at as entertainment, her antics egging on their jeers. More than once she's met her fellow protector's eye to a mixture of pity and pride. She didn't need either from him. What she needed was to keep her strength up, and if she looked ridiculous while doing that, then so be it. Regardless, it was at night, when the hall was truly abandoned, when she really worked.

It started on what must have been her second night there. Anxious and more than a little uncomfortable from not having shifted in so long, Marinette felt unusually unstable and agitated. Granted, being imprisoned tended to do that to a person, but she felt all her hard-won control start to slip the more she thought about her entrapment. She'd never been afraid of heights, bugs or the dark, but the thought of being restrained...put in a box... She felt her skin start to crawl, not knowing when she's be let out. Not knowing _if_.

Starting to panic, she had leaned against the bars of her cage and closed her eyes, imagining everything soothing and peaceful: her father's macarons, her mother's oolong tea, her warm bed, Alya's laugh, Tikki's proud smile, Adrien's kind eyes… She shook her head and gritted her teeth. No, best not to think of him yet. She was still too angry...too betrayed to look at what had happened between them objectively.

No, she went back to the tea. That was safer. Her mother smiling as she set it down before her with a plate of her father's cookies on the side. The way Sabine would smooth back her hair and lean down to kiss her forehead before walking away. Marinette breathed, long and slow. She still felt her power ebbing and flowing, but felt it slowly seep out of her until she was in control again.

Opening her eyes, she wiped an escaping tear and smiled for the first time since she'd gotten there. She had people waiting for her. She _would_ persevere. She had to.

Then, she looked down and squeaked in surprise. Her hands immediately went to cover her mouth as her eyes darted around the empty room, making sure the guards had not heard her. Conveniently, they seemed to be at the part of their rotation that left her out of eyesight, so she bent down and took the chance to observe the source of her surprise.

The smell was so intoxicating she felt like swooning. Falling into a seated position, Marinette reverently picked up the steaming cup of tea in one hand and a strawberry macaron in the other. Taking a bite, she almost sobbed of happiness. They tasted exactly like Papa's.

After eating it with a homesick-fueled fervor, Marinette leaned back and drank in the warmth and aroma of the cup of tea in her hands. She didn't know how she was going to explain a mug appearing in her cell, but at the moment, she didn't much care, too comforted by its presence and the memory of her parents who were no doubt worried sick. Tikki had to know what was going on by now, and hopefully had made some excuses. Still, Marinette felt ill thinking about what a panic she must be putting them through.

Finishing her tea, she looked over the mug and flipped it side to side. It had just appeared in her cell, but it was completely solid. She'd never created something that hadn't evaporated within an hour, and never when she wasn't shifted. She tended to have bursts of power, but she could only truly channel it when she was a ladybug. Yet here she was, stomach full of the flavors of home, in cuffs that prevented her from transforming. It shouldn't be possible.

She held out a hand tentatively and focused on something else...maybe something useful. She closed her eyes and imagined her cell phone, its pastel pink case and black floral decals. When she opened them, there was nothing there, and she felt her energy waning as her body fought against whatever technology was stunting her shift. Maybe something nostalgic, then. Food seemed to be key in her reminiscing. She thought of croissants. Buttery and flaky, with just the right texture of crispy with doughy in the center... Her breaths started to come in short gasps as she actively forced her power to manifest. When she opened her eyes, she saw the ghost of a croissant, but try as she might, she couldn't hold on to it. Releasing her efforts, she slumped against the cage, a cold sweat dampening her brow and her body quivering from the mental exertion as she watched the pastry fade away.

She'd curled into a ball and passed out on the spot, sleeping long and deeply if her stiffness upon waking was anything to go by. But every night since, she continued, forcing herself further and feeling her mind grow stronger. If she could build up a resistance to the cage, maybe she could shift, or at least figure out how to get out. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all she had to go on, and at least it was something to occupy her time. She could sleep when the hall was busiest, and then at night, carefully watching the rotation of the guards and learning to time it perfectly, she would train. It became her schedule. It kept her sane.

On what she guessed was the seventh day, her routine was interrupted again. She'd been having a perfectly pleasant daydream-about schoolwork of all things-when her friendly neighborhood protector/spy/who-the-hell-really-knows-what showed up.

She watched the turtle crawl over the side, shifting in one fluid movement and continuing his walk towards her. He may have been small compared to his gorilla buddy, but the man's size was nothing to scoff at. Lean muscles coated every inch of his well over six foot frame, bulging in an anatomically perfect picture of a man under his ebony skin. He was imposing to say the least, but when Marinette looked at his face, everything in her wanted to trust him. His face wasn't heavily lined, but rugged in a way that made him look both intimidating and protective. What really hit her were his eyes. A deep brown that was almost black, they spoke to his kindness more than anything else. His gaze reminding her of her father's in a way she couldn't describe but that tore at her heart. She wanted to trust him, but she couldn't let her guard down.

"Marinette," his voice rumbled in a distinctly british accent, though not the carefully articulated cadence of her period dramas.

" _Insert name here_ ," she responded and he smiled.

"Wayzz," he corrected. "I feel slighted they've never mentioned me."

"Tikki was very strict on the anonymity rule," Marinette explained, smiling slightly back involuntarily. "I'm only beginning to realize that she may have over-exaggerated its importance."

Wayzz snorted at that.

"More like she was overcompensating," Wayzz muttered, but didn't elaborate. Marinette had to smile. So she wasn't the only one that had guessed at Tikki and Plagg's not-so-secret love affair. He looked quickly over his shoulder and then back at her.

"Brace yourself," he whispered. "We're headed back to the boss."

She nodded, sitting on the floor of the cage and spreading her arms and legs to wedge herself in place. When Wayzz was satisfied, he tipped the cage on its side, and the repeated the process from a week before in reverse. The cage clattered down the side of the wall and dropped to the main floor, Wayzz scampering down after it. His ever-silent sidekick shifted and hefted her cage up, his wide gait wobbling her back in the direction of the gilded room. Except, they walked right past it. Instead of turning right at the end of the corridor, they took a left and Marinette found herself in a stark room, completely gray with no evident doors or sources of light. Wayzz and the gorilla set her down and left the room without a word.

After a moment, two things happened. A click sounded, her cage springing open and cuffs snapping off just as a whoosh from the opposite side of the room announced the arrival of company. She stepped down, her feet soundless against the concrete floor, before she felt a familiar hum in her bones and looked in the direction of her visitors. She froze, her heart racing in her chest, knowing who it was even before he stepped out from behind his father.

For a traitorous moment, she felt relief. Relief that he was whole and unharmed. Relief that he was near. Relief that his eyes seemed to regard her with the affection she'd remembered and not the disdain of their last encounter.

Then she stopped herself, the thought of their last meeting reminding her that he couldn't be trusted. As much as she wanted to believe that what happened between them was an error in judgement on his part, just her declaration catching him by surprise, seeing him here and now standing at his father's side and clearly not a prisoner like she was...she didn't know what to believe.

She tore her gaze away from him to look at Gabriel who was watching the reunion with a small smile.

"Why is she here, father?" Adrien's voice broke her away from her observations and she felt her heart clench at the deferential tone she heard. But then, Adrien had learned long ago how to act around his father, and he most certainly knew why Marinette was there.

"She's your first test!" Gabriel exclaimed.

"My...test?" Adrien's mask slipped for a moment and Marinette registered something liken to fear in his eyes.

"Yes, son. Show me what you can do," Gabriel commanded, his expression light but his voice like iron as he clapped Adrien on the back and disappeared through the wall, leaving Marinette alone with her former boyfriend.

Adrien took a step towards her, opening his mouth to say something, but clearly thought better of it. She felt the air change, the silent buzzing she had been surrounded by so long she'd forgotten it was there faded away and she felt her body was hers once again. Shifting quickly between her forms, she relished her freedom, even smiling despite the circumstances. Her eyes lifted to meet Adrien, but before she could decide how to act, the lights went out and she froze, daring not even to breathe.

A whir sounded and the air felt as if it were sucked out of the room before the walls around them suddenly erupted in flames.


	28. Chapter 27

Adrien walked leisurely around the room, wanting to pace but needing to look unconcerned. If there was anything living with his father had taught him, it was that there were cameras everywhere and nothing went unnoticed. You always had to put on the perfect show.

As it was, he was wary about how convinced he'd been so far, especially his "activation" ceremony. Adrien cringed remembering the fanfare of it all, his father in purple coattails, Nathalie ever-present at his side but a deferential few steps back. Gabriel had held up both hands, letting them come to a slow glow and pausing dramatically before touching the sides of Adrien's temples. Adrien felt his blood respond to whatever power his father wielded, but it wasn't the overwhelming call to shift as he'd imagined. When he'd actually transformed the first time, it was the most mesmerizing combination of peace and agony. It was boggling to his mind, but every atom in his body screamed for him to shift. When he stopped fighting it, he did. Becoming a protector not long after, and feeling the power of the seven pithoi wash through him, had been even more potent.

This glow, whatever it was, was similar, but diluted about a hundred times over. He didn't feel the call to shift, he wasn't a newbie after all, but the power from his father's hands still felt only a fraction as powerful as it should be. It was...wrong. Adrien didn't know how else to describe the two experiences other than the difference between a tide pool and an ocean; both made of the same basic ingredients, but vastly different in their power.

Still, he'd played along, moving past his shock and mimicking what it felt like to go through his first transformation. Ironically, his father's gala had forced him to relive the experience not too long ago, preparing him perfectly for this performance meant to fool him. Adrien wasn't sure if he'd reacted quickly enough for his dramatics to have hit their target squarely, but other than a brief narrowing of his eyes, his father seemed overall satisfied when Adrien fell to the ground as a black cat and hissed up at him-let him think it was from the pain and not Adrien actually saying all the things he'd always wanted to scream at his father.

Gabriel soon snapped his fingers and Adrien shifted back at the commend, squirming a bit in his clothes as he remembered the awkward way they felt after his first transformation. His father's lips twitched in a smile and Adrien hoped he'd done enough to sell it.

Regardless, he couldn't afford another close call.

Adrien forced himself to stop walking and collapsed onto the bizarrely pastel couch just as the sound of footsteps caught his attention. Looking up, he came face to face with Gabriel and was on his feet in an instant. As disillusioned as Adrien was with him, he couldn't deactivate a lifetime's worth of conditioning in a week, and when his father entered a room, he stood at attention.

"Son," Gabriel spoke to him as he stood, and Adrien cursed himself for the warm feeling that coursed through his body. His father hadn't called him by anything other than his given name since his mother passed, and that was when he even deigned to address him at all. Gabriel smiled at his gesture even as Adrien cringed at how instinctual it was.

"Come with me," he turned without further explanation, never looking back, knowing Adrien would follow. Pursing his lips, Adrien did just that, walking after his father through what he had initially thought was a solid wall and into what appeared to be an antechamber. Before them was a barren wall of white and Gabriel stood perfectly still.

"Father?" Adrien questioned quietly. The only movement his father made in response a flick of his eyes. Still, it was sufficient to silence any further query. Adrien feared playing the subservient son came a little too naturally to him.

Before he could dwell on this thought, the wall before them disappeared. Whether it sank into the ground, dissipated or was an illusion all along, Adrien had no idea. The level of technology was frankly frightening in this place, and it gave him pause just thinking about the amount of resources he and the other protectors were up against.

When he felt the telltale warmth flood his body and all thoughts of fear and strategy fled his mind, his eyes immediately searching for her. When he found her standing at the opposite side of the room, for a moment, nothing else existed. He hadn't been an ass and ruined everything. He hadn't laughed at her when she needed him. He hadn't caused this whole mess. They were just Mari and Adrien again...hiding in random alleyways and broom closets...staring up at the stars on her balcony...talking in awkward garbles of conversation and laughter on the phone...sitting in each other's arms on his couch... It was like their biggest problem was still their out of control powers, not her kidnapping or his psychopathic father.

Then she blinked, her eyes shuttering as she regarded him cautiously: her gaze not as reproachful as a week before, but her guard clearly up. He tried to temper his own reaction and took a moment to really looked at her and immediately felt impossibly more miserable. She stood just a step out of a cage that couldn't be much larger than a square meter and had obviously been her home for the last week. Clad in a multitude of sweatpants and sweatshirts that did nothing to hide the amount of weight she'd lost, Marinette was disheveled, her hair hanging limply around her face and dark circles under her eyes, no doubt from stress.

"Why is she here, father?" Adrien forced his voice out, hoping it sounded gruff instead of reflecting how broken he truly felt.

"She's your first test!" His father exclaimed, looking between the two teens in anticipation.

"My...test?" Adrien felt his heart drop as nausea began to swirl in the pit of his stomach. He tried to maintain his mask of indifference, but a glance at Marinette assured him he'd didn't fully succeed.

"Yes, son," his father replied with a slight smile. "Show me what you can do," Gabriel finished, slapping him on the back and disappearing behind the wall they'd just walked through. With a sickening feeling, Adrien realized that this was more than just a test of his abilities. It was a test of his loyalty. A test his father fully expected him to fail. A test he couldn't afford to lose, not if he hoped to get Marinette out of here in one piece.

He looked back at her, knowing that whatever happened next would no doubt look just as much a betrayal as his actions in the park on that fateful day. There were cameras everywhere, microphones listening to every breath, but he needed her to know. He needed to explain. He was here _for her_.

He took a step towards her, opening his mouth to say something- _to say anything_ -but he couldn't. Maybe if he could touch her, she'd understand. She'd feel it and just know. Before he had a chance to take another step, he felt the air change; the silent buzzing Adrien had noticed in the rooms his father had left him in cut off. He would have barely noticed except Marinette's face transformed before him in an instant. The hardened and suspicious stare she'd been maintaining evaporated, a smile of pure joy radiating sunshine from her whole being as she shifted back and forth between human and ladybug. Her eleation was almost contagious and he felt like laughing, until he realized the cause for it and horror froze him in place.

That was the buzzing. It had kept him from shifting. And from the look on her face...She hadn't just been trapped in a cage for a week, she'd been trapped in her own body. Adrien felt tears coming to his eyes, thinking of all the days he felt trapped in his house not being able to shift. At least he could escape at night when he met Plagg. Marinette had been alone, in a cage, her own body fighting against her. He tried to gulp back the sobs that threatened to escape and almost didn't notice when the lights went out.

Then the room erupted in flames. His mind still spinning with his thoughts and realizations, he didn't react, frozen in place. Suddenly, Adrien felt something solid connect with his midsection, knocking him to the ground just a moment before an arrow shot through the air where he'd just been standing.

"The-Where-" he started to stutter, but Marinette was up and crouching next to him in an instant. Surrounded by bursts of wire and flying weapons, and she squatted next to him, poised with a calm determination taking over her face.

"The walls," she explained, squinting against the glare of the flames. "Yeah, they do that."

He sat up and stared at her, his mouth gaping in realization that she'd done this before.

"Only once," she answered his unasked question, reading the look in his eyes perfectly.

Before he could respond, an invisible force ripped them apart, shooting them to opposite ends of the room. Marinette managed to stay on her feet, skidding in a fighter's stance. He-graceful as ever-fell on his ass, but was quick to scramble into a standing position. Adrien tried to take a step forward, but felt the force hold him. He looked over to see Marinette struggling similarly, shifting and flying back to gather momentum, only to slam into an invisible barrier.

Then the arrows started flying, punctuated with lovely streams of fire. He shifted, much more agile as a cat, and tried to dodge and weave, glancing over to check on Marinette's progress from time to time. Then one grazed his tail and his hissed.

"What the fu-"

"Ahhhh!" He heard Marinette's guttural screech as she released a burst of power, blocking the barrage of fire but also knocking him back against a wall. The onslaught of arrows paused for a few precious moments before beginning again.

 _It wants us to attach each other_ , the thought flitted through his mind as he regained his bearings. As reticent as he was to believe it, he knew it was exactly the kind of game his father would play. He looked over at Marinette, dodging a new onslaught of arrows as a burst of fire came a bit too close and he watched her falter in the air, dropping a foot before leveling out, and knew what he had to do. He didn't know what Gabriel had planned, but it would only get worse. He had to play along, get her to attack him so the room stopped attaching her.

 _I'm so sorry_ , he thought closing his eyes and summoning the power and control he and Plagg had worked tirelessly on and shot a small burst at her with a flick of his tail. He tried not to cringe as it hit her and she tumbled through the air, shifting at the last moment to land in a crouched position. She glanced around at the now silent room before settling her gaze on him in a narrow-eyed glare.

He sighed, shooting another low-powered burst and grazing her shoulder. As he watched her gasp at the impact, a sickly green and black spreading from where he grazed her, he felt his own arm burn in sympathy. It got her attention though, and placing a glowing hand to her shoulder, her own power seeming to mitigate the destructive spread of his own, she shifted back. He hadn't even blinked before she sent a shockwave across the room, her light first enveloping him in a sense of peace before he realized he was now completely encapsulated by a steel box. He took the moment of being hidden from the cameras to smile. He wasn't the only one who'd been practicing.

Gathering his concentration, a steady green glow surrounded his paw as he touched it to the metal around him, watching as it turned an ashy gray before disintegrating completely. When he escaped that, he only encountered another container, this one glass, and layer upon layer of metal bars above that. Touching the glass, he was pleasantly surprised by how solid it was. Last time they'd spoke, she'd been having trouble with the permanence of her creation, but she seemed to have gotten past that. He smirked. She'd been busy, using the last week to become even stronger. If his father thought he was breaking her spirit, he clearly didn't know who he was dealing with. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was no wilting flower, and Hawkmoth had only made her even stronger.

Feeling an overwhelming sense of pride for this woman who, at least for a moment, felt he was worthy of her love, he summoned his power again, disintegrating two more barriers before he became careless and missed, his aim missing the bar and instead directly hitting the ladybug across the room.

"Sh-" he started but cut off, knowing there were ears everywhere. Panic paralyzing his body, he watched helpless as she fell to the ground, her glow wavering in and out as she struggled to get back up. Everything in his being screamed at him to go to her, but he couldn't and they were still watching.

Her transformation reverted, leaving Marinette laying on the ground and gasping, her eyes squeezing shut as she focused on strengthening her aura and counteracting his power. She lay completely vulnerable, pain evident in her face just as betrayal hung on the corner of her eyes. He felt something new infuse throughout his body as he recognized the hurt there, too. It went beyond a need to protect her. It was as if her injury was his. It was self-preservation. She was a part of him, and as he watched her gasping for breath, he felt the full extent of his power settle on him. Everything up to this point had been with training wheels, this is what he was meant to weild. And he was meant to protect. Protect her. Protect them.

It was time to finish the show.

He raised his arms, feeling the green glow and black swirls cascade over his body intoxicatingly. Then, letting loose a primal scream, he released his destruction, letting it shot from his body in every direction.


	29. Chapter 28

Gabriel watched the two teens in awe. So young and powerful, and clearly not even at the height of their power yet. Such potential... And his son...he could kick himself for not seeing it in him sooner. Adeline had been a force and Adrien was clearly his mother's child.

When his son threw the metaphorical first punch, he grinned wider. Perhaps he'd inherited a bit from his father too.

The melee continued, the two seeming to discover that by attacking each other, it kept the room from attacking them. At least they were quicker than most dueling pairs to come to that conclusion. That private school education his son insisted on hadn't all been for naught. It was mesmerizing really. While his son's aim left something to be desired, Adrien was only newly activated and far more powerful than anything he'd ever seen. Allowances must be made for his lack of skill in the presence of such obvious potential.

It was curious, really. The girl was undeniably miraculous. She was a protector after all and had no doubt been training for some time at honing her powers. And, of course, there was the added detail that she had the benefit of all seven pithoi. Gabriel's métamorphes, with only the indirect influence of the pithoi he'd absorbed, tended to be...less. They were powerful in their own way, but they never grew, they never achieved more. It had been a sore spot ever since he realized what was happening. Protectors gained their initial powers immediately, but over the course of one or two years, they came into their true potential. His métamorphes were all protectors in their own way, his power not only forcing their activation whether their gene would have surfaced or not, but also partially enacting the ancient ritual of the protectors. For that reason, all of his métamorphes were extraordinary, possessing some extra ability, but they were nothing like the girl. Gabriel wasn't too proud to admit where his experiments fell short.

Without the powers of all the pithoi involved in the activation, the raw power he'd only begun to see from the girl was impossible. Years of study and experimentation, and Gabriel had been unable to replicate it, all his métamorphes stagnating where they began. No matter what he tried, there was some hidden element he couldn't figure out. It had grated on him for the last ten years.

But watching Adrien now, he wondered if it had more to do with the person that with his process. Protectors must be selected meticulously for various qualities. While Gabriel had come into his powers through...less conventional means, Adeline had not. Adrien was more like his mother than Gabriel ever wanted to admit, but if that was what made him more powerful, that elusive _je ne sais quoi_ that Gabriel had been hunting for for a decade, this could be the start of a breakthrough. It wasn't the process...it was the person. His mouth spread into an even wider grin at the imaginings of how much more powerful his army could be with soldiers like his son.

Gabriel turned his eyes back to the scene in from of him, watching in glee as his son broke down barrier after barrier that the girl threw up. She was playing defense, but when Adrien sent a shot straight through the bars, knocking her out of the air, Adrien made it clear he was playing offense.

The girl fell the the ground, shifting into her human form, a faint glow surrounding her as power seemed to seep from every pore of her body. His son shifted as well and stood motionless. For a moment, Gabriel doubted. Why was he hesitating? They knew each other, but surely it was clear that she was the enemy. A _statique_ -lover. A traitor to her own kind. Perhaps the boy was _too much_ like his mother. This sentimentality…

Then Adrien lifted his hands, his powers seeming even more potent despite his human form and Gabriel felt giddy at the clear display of his superiority. Adrien screamed, a gutteral sound ripping from deep within him, and with a flash of light, all the monitors in the observation room went black.

"Wha-Nathalie!" Gabriel yelled shrilly and the woman jumped to start murmuring with the computer technician who spun around the room in a flurry trying to find the root of the problem. A few minutes passed before the younger man reluctantly turned to face Gabriel

"The electronics-They're fried sir."

Gabriel turned on him, vehemence in his eyes.

"Do you mean to tell me that I spent billions of dollars retrofitting this establishment and a simple burst of energy had completely dismantled it."

"I'd say it was more than a burst of energy sir," the man laughed nervously, but Gabriel continued to glare at him.

"Open the doors then," he commanded.

"Well, when I say fried, I mean everything," The man hedged with a wince and Gabriel turned the full fire of his glare on him, not speaking a word. Nathalie stepped in, grabbing the man by the collar.

"Fix. It." She hissed, and the man nodded.

"Mainframe. Downstairs. 5 minutes." He choked out and was sprinting away the second Nathalie released him.

Gabriel turned, and glared at the wall, a slow smile spreading over his face when no one could see him.

 _More than a burst of energy, indeed._

Marinette tentatively opened her eyes, taking in the destruction around her in shock just as she realized that she'd been completely spared from the hell Adrien had unleashed. She looked over at him, a cat again with his head cocked to the side in concentration, before he nodded and shifted back.

"Good, I fried it all. They can't hear us now."

"How-" she started shaking her head but gasped at pain that flared in her shoulder from the previous hit. Adrien winced too, his face in clear agony and started to move to her side but stopped, clearly unsure if it was where he belonged anymore. She couldn't tell him if it was. She wasn't sure herself. Everything about this was confusing to her. His appearance. His behavior. His motives.

Looking into his eyes, she saw _her_ Adrien. The boy she started to let herself fall for, despite her best efforts to deny all that was between them. But then she remembered his face when they last met, and her heart was wary to make the same mistake twice. Did he just not want to believe her? She could understand the impulse to protect your family, even if in his case "family" happened to be a psychopathic serial killer. If his reaction had been simply a gut impulse to protect the only family he had left, she could start to understand that, but then why was he here? Did he finally realize that she was right and his father was Hawkmoth or had he known all along? What was he playing at?

"Mari," his voice called her back to the present as he glanced around the still dark room and took a few steps closer to her. "I don't know how much time we ha-"

"Why are you here, Adrien?" She hated the way her voice sounded. Hoarse from not speaking in almost a week and cold as she tried to protect her heart from racing back to him. He just stared at her. Even in the dimmed room, she could see the surprise in his eyes, the drop of his jaw.

"Bugaboo-"

"Are you just here to do Daddy's dirty work?" She started to curl into herself, tucking her legs under her so she could jump into a crouched position at a moment's notice. "Here to try and make me let me guard down?"

"M'Lady-"

"Because it won't work," she informed him, trying to think past the feeling of his presence as he took another step towards her. Like finding a summer oasis in an eternal winter. "Because I refuse to be some damn pawn in this game. I am not some bargaining chip Fu will make a trade for."

That made Adrien pause.

"So that's his plan," he whispered, his eyes flicking down as his mind started to churn through theories.

"Of course that's his plan. But I'm sure you already know that," she scoffed and his eyes shot back up to meet hers.

"No, Bug-"

"Stop," she hissed, feeling tears start to threaten at the corner of her eyes. As much as her head told her to fight it, she'd started to lower her walls. Everything in her yearned for him to be closer; felt safer just by his proximity. She wanted to trust him so badly, even as her head reminded her of what had happened last time. "Don't call me that," she finished lamely, trying to keep her voice hard, but failing miserably.

He paused for a moment, regarding her with infinitely sad eyes before taking the last few steps to her and kneeling before her.

"Marinette," he whispered her name, his own voice hoarse, but she suspected for a very different reason. "I can imagine what this looks like. After last time I saw you," he closed his eyes and shook his head. His lips pursed and when he looked at her again, his gaze was watery. "I reacted poorly, to say the least. I was surprised and so used to having to protect my family's name against the world...but that's not the point. There is no excuse for what I said and there was no excuse for how I reacted."

His body started to lean forward, and she could see how his hands balled into fists, gripping his pant legs. As if that was the only thing keeping him from holding her like he wanted.

"You came to me. You trusted me and you needed your partner, and I let you down. I will never-" his voice cracked and he took a second to clear his throat. "I will never forgive myself for that. But you have to know. Surely, you know why I-Mari," he finally seemed to find the words. "I'm here for you."

She blinked at him slowly, trying to find the truth in his eyes, but knowing there was only one way to be sure. Reaching out a hand, she laid it gently along the curve of his right cheek. He sat immobile at first, as if trying not to startle her away, but when he gave in and leaned into her hand, his eyes closing in relief, she felt the tears run down her face freely, because she knew. With the simple contact, she felt all that was Adrien just as she imagined he felt all that was her. All his fear and anger and anxiety of the last week melded into her terror and homesickness and paranoia, but in the end it flooded out as relief.

"You're telling the truth," she announced, as if needing to say it to truly believe it.

He nodded against her palm, a small smile gracing his handsome face as his eyes opened to look at her once more.

"This is all my fault, Mari. I should have believed you the first time, but I am going to get you out of here, I promise."

"It wasn't your fault," she returned automatically and he just gave her a sarcastic look. She felt her lips crack into a smile for the first time in a week. "Okay," she amended. "You didn't exactly help."

He seemed to light up at her smile and she tried to make it wider if only for his sake.

"So, you're what? Undercover? A double-agent?"

"Something like that," he leaned back and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I have a feeling it's just going to be one test after another, and God-knows I haven't ever been great at surpassing my father's expectations."

He laughed nervously, but Marinette heard more than a self-deprecating joke in his statement. She heard years of emotional abuse at the hand of his father. Sixteen years of manipulation. Adrien was strong and had learned to work the system to his own benefit at times, but she could still glimpse the part of him that was a boy just wanting to make his father proud. Even knowing what he was, Marinette couldn't help but fear that given time...if Adrien stayed too long, he might fall victim to Gabriel again.

He was here for her, but they both needed to get out as soon as possible.

"So he needs to trust you," Marinette nodded, looking around them for what she needed. "You were supposed to attack me, right?"

"Yeah," he answered hesitantly, but her attention was distracted, exclaiming in triumph when she found what she was looking for.

"Well, let's make it believable then," she held up a stray arrow in triumph and his eyes turned decidedly wary.

"Bug, what are you doing?"

"Making it believable," she responded again, and then quickly lifted the arrow and dragged it across her eyebrow, wincing as the gash opened up and started to pour blood over her eye.

"Marinette!" Adrien screeched, lunging towards her and pinning her arms to her side.

"Kitty, it's fine. They have a healer here and I'm too valuable alive for Gabriel to leave me hurt."

"Can we not take that chance?"

"Chaton," she looked up at him with a small smile. "We need him to trust you, right? Not just for me, but for the hundreds of others he has under his control. "

"You noticed that too?"

"Of course," she scoffed. "You think I've just been on vacation, lounging around for the last week?"

"Never," he smiled back. "Not my lady."

"We need him to trust you," she repeated and he sighed, lifting his hands to frame her jaw and letting his letting his forehead fall to hers. He closed his eyes and she followed, drinking in the smell of him like home.

"I can't stand to see you hurt," he whispered back, and she traced her hand along her stomach. Finding a spot a few inches above her hip bone and placing the arrowhead facing outward, in a direction she prayed will all her shoddy anatomy knowledge wouldn't hit anything vital, she responded.

"Then don't look."

Adrien opened his eyes as she shoved the point through her flesh. Her gasp mingled with his shout, his hands immediately moving to the arrow, as if to dislodge it, but he froze, not wanting to do more damage that she had already.

She heard the telltale click of the hidden doors, and knew their time was up. Her head already spinning from the blood loss and pain, she desperately clung to consciousness to finish the scene. She needed to make this worth it. Make it believable.

 _Sorry_ , her mouth moved, but she dare not speak the word even as he shook his head, eyes watching her in disbelief.

Then the lights flicked back on and the door swished open. With the last of her strength, Marinette summoned her power and blasted Adrien against the opposite wall before the darkness took her completely.


	30. Chapter 29

Alya trotted along the street at a normal pace, relishing in the surprised shrieks and perplexed smiles from the people she passed. She supposed it wasn't everyday you saw a fox wandering around Paris.

It had only been a few days, and while she was still far from being comfortable using her powers or had yet to develop her specific talent, Alya was honestly in her element when shifted. She already was planning all the ways it would make her investigative journalism career so much easier. No one ever noticed the wildlife...unless she wanted them to.

She was grinning to herself as she turned the corner to Fu's apartment when her fur suddenly stood on edge. Taking an unnecessary turn, she veered into an alleyway, like an animal savaging for scraps might, and used a burst of speed to hide in the shadows behind a dumpster.

Then she saw her pursuant walk into the alleyway and sighed.

"Really?" Alya whined, walking back into the light and wiping her feet against the ground to rid herself of the mystery puddle she'd accidentally stood in. Trixx just cackled, her blonde fur gleaming in the lamplight as her perked ears wiggled in amusement. She may look like a cute Cape Fox, but appearances could be deceiving. Trixx had proven to be the most cunning and mischievous person Alya had ever met.

And she loved her.

"You did well, kit," Trixx smiled, coming to nudge her nose into the russet fur of Alya's side. Alya just continued to shake the gunk off her paws.

"I could have done without this particular impromptu test, but thanks."

"Well, that's what you get for frightening the statiques," Trixx quirked an eyebrow at Alya and she couldn't help but smile.

"Did you hear that one woman scream," she chuckled. "I'm a fox, not a wolf for Christ's sake. Calm down."

"You're horrible," Trixx remarked with a grin. "It's a good thing you're mine."

Alya grinned at that as well, amazed how she and Trixx had fallen in together in such a short time. It had been bumpy at first, Trixx seeming cold and aloof as she showed Alya the ropes, but after her talk with Tikki, Alya understood so much more.

So she went slow, letting her natural wit and sarcasm shine through and not taking Trixx's apparent indifference to heart. Once it was confirmed that Trixx didn't have some personal objection to Alya herself, she knew she could eventually wear the woman down.

When a few days ago, Alya had been particularly obstinate, questioning a certain training technique to death, Trixx finally cracked.

" _You are the most infuriating pup I've ever met!"_ She'd screeched out and Alya couldn't contain her smile. Trixx had never called her a _pup_ before, and she couldn't help but feel like she'd finally won the woman over. Lifting her chin in the air, she crossed her arms over her chest haughtily.

" _Thank you,"_ she'd responded simply. " _I do strive to excel at all that I do."_

Trixx had just snorted, shaking her head so her tight toffee curls bobbed on her head in a jubilant mass, framing her round cheeks and angular chin. But she regarded Alya with a soft smile, telling her to go home for the night and she'd see her the following day. The next time they met, the distance Trixx usually kept in her eyes was gone. It was as if something had clicked, and she finally became Alya's true mentor.

When she finally gave in, Alya found that she and Trixx had dangerously similar senses of humor and personalities. They'd spoken about Marinette more than once, and Trixx was just as angry about the situation as Alya, fiercely protective over this girl she'd never met simply because Alya and Tikki loved her and because she was a part of her protector family.

Alya paused in her reminiscing, the smile sobering on her face. Thinking of Marinette reminded her of why she was currently in an alley.

"Come on," she flicked her head to Trixx and jumped on the nearest fire escape. "We're already late. Did Fu tell you why he called?"

"Wayzz sent word," Trixx's English lit was so soft, Alya barely caught her revelation.

"What?" Alya had reached the roof but stopped to look back at her mentor. "Why are you just telling me this now? Has something happened to Mari? To Adrien?"

It had now been nearly two weeks since Marinette had been captured and 5 days that Adrien had been undercover. Plagg got flashes of both of them, enough to know that they were okay, though judging from the hesitant way he relayed the news each time, Alya suspected the man was telling them the abridged version of what was really happening as to not worry them. Still, he could only see the past, and without actually touching Adrien, his connection to the boy was only strong enough to get snippets from afar. Tikki, on the other hand, had been in nearly completely silent on the vision front since Marinette had been taken. Fu claimed it was due to stress, but Trixx had confided in Alya that she'd never heard of stress suppressing powers. No, Alya had a feeling that Tikki had seen all she was going to see for now. Unfortunately, what she had seen was Marinette and Adrien being engulfed in the fiery light of their own power before the vision went dark. It wasn't exactly encouraging or particularly helpful.

"No, they're fine," Trixx assured her. "Wayzz has been in contact for about a week now, Adrien managing to slip to him something Fu concocted. Don't look at me," Trixx shook her head and gave Alya a wide-eyed look. "I never understood that magical mumbo jumbo, _but_ apparently it's helping Wayzz get messages back to us and the others have been working to starts smuggling people out of Hawkmoth's compound."

"Wait," Alya grinned back at her mentor. "So it's working, then? We're getting people out?"

"Some," Trixx cautioned, but smiled a bit herself. "The ones Wayzz has been singling out for months as the least enthusiastic to be a part of Hawkmoth's cause. Queen and Faucon have gotten ten out so far, though I suppose today's makes eleven."

"Eleven out of how many?"

"The estimates vary," Trixx shrugged, shifting and pulling out her key to the roof entrance of Fu's apartment building. "Somewhere between a hundred and a hundred-fifty."

"Oh," Alya replied, having shifted herself and walking through the door Trixx held open for her.

"Chin up, kid. It's progress."

"No, you're right," Alya tried to paint a smile on her face, but knowing her best friend was still very much surrounded by the enemy didn't help much. "How are they getting them out?"

"Right now it's only the few that have some modicum of autonomy, so those who have been there the longest or that Hawkmoth trusts somewhat."

Alya paused at that, her hand poised to knock on Fu's front door.

"So, you mean people higher up in the food chain? People that might know things?"

"Now, hold on," Trixx cautioned, her hands up in a placating manner as she recognized the glint that came to Alya's eyes. "These people have been under some form of mental or physical control for who knows how long. Be gentle with your interrogating."

Alya just raised and eyebrow at her.

"And my best friend may be _currently_ suffering the same fate," she retorted. "They can recuperate _after_ they tell me what they know. And seriously," she knocked before continuing. "Have some faith, Trixx. I'm not going to torture them or something. I'm very persuasive with my own charms, thank you very much."

The door swung open and Nino stood before them, smirk on his face having overheard Alya's last comment.

"I can confirm this," he piped in and Alya smirked back at Trixx. Her mentor made a gagging gesture, her elegantly aged face contorting in mock disgust.

"God, teenagers are so disgusting," she pushed past them both and Alya glared after her.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, you old bat!"

Trixx spared a moment to flip her the bird, but otherwise continued on her way as Alya turned to Nino.

"Hey," she smiled and he grinned back. They hadn't really spoken privately since their kiss/mad dash to find Adrien and invitation to join the protectors. It had all been a whirlwind and while Nino had texted her after to make sure she was okay, and they'd checked in every day since, it had all just been so crazy. They definitely hadn't spoken about what that kiss had meant, if anything at all.

"Hey," he responded. "You...good?"

"Yeah," she smirked, amazed by the riveting conversation they were managing to hold. They really did need to talk about them, but now was not the time. Currently their best friends were playing prisoner and spy and that took precedence. "The newest rescue is in there?"

Nino nodded, seemingly as relieved as she was to move on to more "normal" conversation. Alya sighed, realizing her definition of "normal" had gotten royally fucked up in the last few weeks.

"What do you know?" Alya looked over his shoulder to try and catch a glimpse, but saw nothing.

"Goes by Paon but hasn't specified if that's just her shifted name or actual name-"

"Probably a peacock," Alya shrugged and Nino mirrored her before continuing.

"From what I could tell from the conversation so far, I'd wager she's been with Hawkmoth for somewhere over five years now. She's a healer-"

"So she probably moved with more freedom than most, everyone needs to see a healer, especially for any kind of combat."

"Yeah," Nino responded, looking a little annoyed at all her interruptions as he was clearly leading up to something.

"Okay, well spit it out then!" She commanded and he smirked.

"Get this: she was there when they took Marinette."

"What?!" Alya shouted, punching his shoulder. "Why didn't you lead with that?"

"Because you wouldn't have listened to the rest otherwise," he responded quite logically, but Alya wouldn't admit that. She just rolled her eyes and plowed past him into the main room where she came face to face with a large woman, at least six feet tall and paler than anyone Alya had ever seen. Add her unnervingly gray eyes and platinum blonde hair, and Alya had a difficult time imagining this woman turning into a vibrant peacock.

"Ah, you must be the best friend," Paon smiled at her from where she sat on a mat in the center of the room. "I've been warned. Go ahead. Ask your questions."

Alya took a moment to look around the room, noticing the comfort in which Paon sat.

"You all know each other," she stated and Paon's face broke out into a grin.

"You were right, Trixx! She is perceptive!" Alya waited, trying not to grate at the way she spoke of her as if she wasn't there. As if she was just an impressive child performing for the adults. Trixx noticed the annoyance in her eyes and suppressed a smile.

"Yes, dear," Paon continued. "Believe it or not, I was in training to be a protector just like you when my mentor vanished, and in searching for her I found Hawkmoth."

"You...were a protector?"

"The same group as Tikki and Plagg, as a matter of fact!"

Alya looked around the room, keenly noting the joy on Tikki's face and the slight distrust on Plagg's. So she wasn't the only one unsure of this miraculous reappearance.

"And you were with him how long?"

"Eight years," she responded easily.

"I've never heard of you," Alya replied simply, but it was true. Granted, she'd never heard of Karina before Tikki named her and gave the whole story, but now this woman was claiming that not only Trixx's girl, but two other protectors, a mentor and trainee, just vanished and it had never been used as a cautionary tale? Something just didn't add up.

"Paon technically was the first trainee of our generation, being chosen just a few years after Hawkmoth was defeated the first time," Tikki explained, looking to Trixx to continue the story. Trixx sighed, but spoke up.

"Adeline, her mentor, became...strange and secretive after Hawkmoth's disappearance. At one point, she disappeared for months. We all assumed the fight had been harder on her than the rest of us and gave her space. When Paon was chosen, things seemed to get better for her. She was around more, having a mentee to worry about, but it only lasted two years before Adeline vanished for good and we never heard from her again."

"The first time she disappeared," Nino spoke up from where he was leaning against the wall. "How long ago was that?"

"About 16 or 17 years, I suppose," Trixx answered with a quizzical tilt to her head, but Nino wasn't done, he turned to Paon.

"And then when she disappeared for good?"

"9 years ago," Paon responded without hesitation, her eyes resigned, seeming to understand Nino's line of questioning perfectly.

"Adrien," Nino supplied, turning to Alya. "His mom's name was Adeline. She died when he was seven."

Paon nodded before turning to Alya to finish the tale.

"Of course it makes sense now. As soon as I saw Adrien, I knew. He's the spitting image of his mother. Adeline was with Hawkmoth that whole time, recognizing something redeemable in Gabriel. She _loved_ him, and for a while it was enough. For seven years, she got the family she'd always wanted and Hawkmoth seemed to be gone for good," Paon paused, her reminiscent smile disappearing. They all knew how this story ended. "Then Adeline was killed. Such a senseless murder."

"And you joined Hawkmoth?" Alya interjected, still puzzled as to how the sane woman in front of her made that choice.

"I didn't know she'd been killed," Paon shook her head, her eyes returning to the present in front of her. "Adeline had been my only family, and I felt abandoned. I was naive. Younger than you, even, and when Hawkmoth approached me-"

"Wait, _he_ found _you_?" Plagg cut in and Paon nodded.

"I was at Adeline's apartment, looking for a note or...something! She was like my sister. I couldn't believe that she would just up and vanish, and then he showed up. Told me he knew a better place. That _he_ would never leave me and I...well, I was lonely and felt betrayed and it seemed like the perfect offer."

"Until he manipulated you and put you under mind-control," Plagg finished sardonically and Paon's eyes flashed in anger.

"That wasn't until much later, and I know what I did impulsively was stupid, but you can't possibly understand. Until you've been abandoned by your entire family, don't talk to me like you know."

Tikki and Fu's eyes both shot to Plagg and his frame went rigid. Alya suspected Plagg might understand that feeling very well, and had clearly regarded this woman in front of him as part of _his_ family, before she disappeared.

"You abandoned us," he replied after taking a moment to control his voice and Paon seemed to deflate.

"Perhaps," she conceded with a sad smile in his direction. "And I regretted it everyday, but I was young and stupid and then I was stuck."

"But you're out now," Alya cut back in, walked over and sank to a seated position in front of the woman. "And maybe there's a way you can help your protector family."

"Maybe," the woman replied hesitantly, but Alya wasn't deterred.

"You were with Marinette when they took her," she said and Paon nodded.

"Yes, I went along on all requisitions should anyone be injured. I healed Marinette's head injury."

"So you've met her," she breathed a sigh of relief as Paon confirmed what Nino had said. "When was the last time you saw her."

"About four days ago..."

She trailed off and Alya could tell she was debating whether to say more. There was clearly something she was keeping to herself. Alya's mind started putting it together. If Paon saw Marinette a few days ago, there would only be one reason why. Before she had a chance to ask, Tikki started shouting.

"She was hurt?" Tikki took a step forwards, stress etched into every facet of her being and Paon nodded slowly.

"She's fine now, but there was a fight...well, not really a fight, more of a test for the boy…"

Alya saw Plagg wince and began to open her mouth to ask, but Tikki beat her to it.

"This is what you saw and kept from me?"She turned furious eyes on Plagg. "Your kid hurting _MINE_?"

"Tiks, calm down-"

"DON'T TELL ME TO BE CALM-"

Plagg placed a hand on Tikki's cheek and the woman's eyes glazed over for a second before refocusing on Plagg, still glaring but her anger substantially dimmed.

"It was a test for the kid, but he didn't hurt her. Hawkmoth sent him in there to prove himself and Marinette knew she needed to come out the loser if Adrien was going to win his trust," Plagg didn't remove his hand as his eyes bored into Tikki's, as if begging her to understand. "She did it to protect him."

Alya watched the back and forth between the two with interest, divining that Marinette injured herself to protect Adrien in her typical martyr fashion. That wasn't what brought her up short though.

"What did you just do?"

"Huh?" Plagg looked back over at her, a mix of annoyance and relief to be out from under Tikki's glare occupying his expression.

"With your hand," Alya elaborated and Plagg's face dawned in realization.

"Oh," he looked down at his palm. "I can convey visions through my hand. Usually only when I'm receiving them from the original person the first time, but sometimes if the vision is potent enough or…"

He trailed off, and Alya didn't need further clarification. She knew very well how painful memories tended to stick with you. She imagined it was the same if the memories were second hand.

"Wait," she turned back to Paon. "You said you healed her a few days ago, right? What were you going to say next."

"Caught that too…" she cringed. "It's just...well, Nathalie, Hawkmoth's right hand woman, seems to...have a personal vendetta against Marinette."

"I always hated her," Nino contributed as if the woman's cruelty didn't surprise him one bit, but Alya ignored him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Paon hedged and looked over at Plagg sheepishly. "It's easier if I show you."

Plagg just sighed and walked over.

"Yeah, sure, why not? Everyone gather round. It's time for my one and only party trick."

Everyone did just that, each laying a hand on Plagg just before he touched Paon's forehead and they were all submerged into the woman's memory.

 _Alya swims through the hazy vision in disconcertion. The colors are off and the perception is strange making her blink to try and focus, but she only manages to give herself a headache._

 _The room is completely charred with arrows littering the ground and a cage in the far corner. It looks like a disaster zone of some dystopian movie set, eerily illuminated by fluorescent lights._

" _Him first," she hears a voice command, and her vision points in the direction of a boy sprawled against the wall behind her._

Adrien _, she realizes and wants to urge her body forward before realizing she is nothing more than a passenger in Paon's movie. Everything she is seeing has already played out; she is just along for the ride._

 _Paon's hand reaches down to check his pulse, his breathing, the dilation of his eyes...Then the vision changes again, to a range of colors Alya had never experienced before in her life, and she realizes Paon is now a peacock. She leans down to touch her beak to Adrien's head and instantly his body relaxes. His breathing becomes less labored and the tension in his face drains away. The colors right themselves again._

" _He'll be fine, he just needs rest," Paon flicks her hands towards two burly men in the corner. The larger of the two moves to grab Adrien, but the other slaps him away. His kind eyes asses Adrien meticulously before bending to gingerly gather the teen in his arms as if he weighed nothing. He turns, exchanging a brief nod with Paon before leaving the room._

 _She turns her attention to the opposite side of the room where Marinette lay, barely conscious and gasping; clearly in pain. Hurrying, but trying to look indifferent, Paon sinks to Marinette's side and gives her a once over. Marinette looks up with wary eyes as if expecting an enemy but seeing something different._

" _Tell me where you're hurt," Paon commands, her voice straightforward and demanding as she runs her hands along Marinette's neck to check for injuries and shines a light in her eyes._

" _Shoulder. Eye. Stomach," Marinette manages to grit out and Paon nods as she deliberates which is worse, her eyes landing on the arrow still sprouting from Marinette's abdomen._

" _Of course it didn't go clean through," she sighs and gently wraps one hand around the shaft as her other braces against Marinette's stomach. "This needs to come out, but then I'll shift and heal you."_

" _Okay."_

" _It's going to hurt," she warns and Marinette looks up at her with a determination Alya knows well, though she'd never seen it shine so fiercely in her friend's eyes._

" _Just do it."_

 _Paon doesn't bother with further warning and with an experienced hand yanks the weapon from Marinette's body before shifting rapidly and pressing her beak to Marinette's wound. The girl cringes, but makes no sound as it heals._

 _The peacock moves around her best friend's body, healing other internal injuries until she finally reaches Marinette's face. There is a shallow gash there cutting through her right eyebrow at an angle._

 _Paon waits, watching as Marinette pants in exhaustion from gritting her teeth through the expedited healing, but her friend still looks over and manages to smile at this stranger that is causing her pain._

" _It's okay. I'm okay," she says as if trying to convince herself just as much as Paon. "Go ahead."_

 _Paon nods again and moves to lay her beak on Marinette's eyebrow when a hot flash of pain radiates up her back, a squawking noise emanating from her mouth._

" _Hey!" Marinette shouts indignantly, rising out of her lying position into a squat. "Get off her!"_

 _The pain vanishes as Paon is released and scampers away to look up at her assailant._

" _Hold off, Paon," a woman with a severe bob says as she leans down to Marinette's level. "I have a few questions for M. Dupain, first."_

" _Dupain-Cheng," Marinette repeats in her typical annoyance and it warms Alya's heart to hear her friend still whole in that simple rebellion._

" _I know what you're up to," she states. Marinette just stares at her._

" _I'm sorry, Nathalie," she doesn't scoff the woman's name but rather addresses her with a bored indifference. "I'm waiting for the question."_

 _Nathalie's action is so quick Paon almost doesn't see the blur of her hand before it strikes Marinette squarely across the face._

" _You_ will _tell me what you and_ that boy _are planning. If you think for one second that I'm buying into his traitorous lies, you're a fool."_

 _Marinette just rolled her eyes, not reacting in the slightest to Nathalie's assault._

" _No, you're the fool Nathalie, if you believe for one second that I'm counting on some scumbag ex-boyfriend who turned me over to Daddy to come rescue me."_

" _You're lying," Nathalie regarded Marinette with suspicious eyes but Marinette sat unflinching under her gaze._

" _Am I? Or is it just so hard for you to believe that not all of us need the attention of an Agreste man to give our life meaning?" Marinette quipped back, cocking her head to the side and looking at Nathalie with pity._

 _The older woman leaned in, anger evident in her eyes even as she forced a smile._

" _We're done here, Paon."_

 _Paon shifted back and took a hesitant step towards them._

" _But, her eye-"_

" _Leave it," Nathalie barked before narrowing her eyes at Marinette and speaking in a hushed tone. "Enjoy this scar, little girl, maybe then your childish threats will actually scare someone."_

 _And with that she stood and left the room, Paon following dutifully behind._

The memory went black, and suddenly Alya was back in the present, surrounded by protectors shaking themselves out of what they just saw. The room was silent, no one sure what to make of this new information. Paon swayed unsteadily where she was seated and Fu declared she was done being interrogated for now as he helped her to the guest room. Once she was tucked away, Nino spoke up.

"I told you Nathalie was bad news."

"She's a pawn," Plagg responded. "Only dangerous as far as she has Hawkmoth's confidence."

"Sometimes pawns are the most important pieces," Trixx spoke up and the three started to debate amongst themselves.

Meanwhile Alya looked over to Tikki and the two locked eyes, both knowing Marinette well enough to have come to the exact same conclusion. She'd hid it well, but there was fear in her eyes as she regarded Gabriel's second in command.

Was Hawkmoth really their biggest threat?


	31. Chapter 30

Adrien slinked along the walls of the complex like he had every night since his arrival. His room, of course, had a lock, but to his benefit it was an electronic keypad.

" _For your protection_ ," his father had told him, giving Adrien the beginning of an inkling that Gabriel perhaps wasn't as in control of his army as he appeared to be.

Whether it was to keep him in or others out, Adrien didn't particularly care, nor did he let the minor inconvenience of a locked door keep him from the whole reason he'd embarked on this mad mission: Marinette. Every night he'd simply destroyed the lock, making sure to fry all electronics in his room as well to cover his little breakaways and blame it on his "uncontrollable" power of destruction. Every morning it would be repaired with something sturdier, but even the most recent upgrade in his security only caused him a minor inconvenience. He knew eventually they'd put in a mechanical lock and his breakouts would lose their convenient cover, but until then, he wasn't going to stop his routine. It had become the savior of his sanity over the last week.

The first night, he'd been hesitant. Everything was so charged, it had been since the moment they'd met, but despite Marinette's actions in the room earlier, he didn't know where they stood. She'd been hesitant to let her heart rule her from the very beginning, and when she finally started to give in, he'd royally fucked up. If this were a normal relationship, she might ice him out for a bit, but then they'd talk, he'd apologize and explain why he reacted poorly and hopefully they'd move on from there. But nothing with them was that easy. It had to be heightened, amplified by two hundred and then marathoned back to back.

So when he approached the outlook that was closest to Marinette's perch, following the invisible but impossible-to-miss trail that led him to her, Adrien did so trepidatiously. He didn't know, even as much as he yearned to be close to her, if she wanted to see him. So he paused, his head peeking around the corner and expecting to see her look up immediately, but was surprised instead to see her eyes shut in concentration, lips moving in a silent prayer and hands held in front of her. He cocked his head, tail flicking in curiosity as he tried to divine what on earth she was doing, but then he saw it. Manifesting slowly in front of her was a croissant. Layer by layer it came into flaky existence before his very eyes. Just as it solidified, she grabbed it, hid it behind her back, and leaned against the cage in apparent sleep. Not a seconds later, two guards entered the hall from opposite sides, both glancing in her direction, before walking back out. Marinette peeked open at the sound of their retreating footsteps and smiled, reaching behind herself to pull out and admire the fruits of her labors. Just as she went to rip a piece off, she froze, her eyes darting to where he hid in the shadows.

It had been tense at first, but not nearly in the way he'd imagined. They had clipped conversations between the rounds of the guards, him updating her on what the protectors were planning and her detailing her time in captivity and her suspicions. But where he was expecting to be hit with her anger, there was only concern. He had the distinct feeling that Marinette was the type to forgive, but never forget. So while her first words to him that night were over his well-being- making sure she hadn't hurt him and that no one suspected him-she still kept him at a distance, her heart stashed securely away.

It was still more than he deserved. He'd come every night since.

When he rounded the now familiar corner, he came across a very different scene than the one he'd come to expect. Marinette was sound asleep, her back to him but her body moving in the comforting rhythm of her steady breathing. He sat back saying nothing, glad she was finally getting what seemed to be some semblance of rest. He'd seen the dark circles under her eyes only grow deeper in the time he'd been here. Adrien hoped that his being there would relieve some of her burden, but he had a feeling she only just started worrying about him, too.

She muttered in her sleep and rolled over to face him and he cringed. Of course he'd seen the scar going through her eyebrow, but he'd be lying if he said it still didn't anger him to his core. Marinette hid it well enough for the first two days, sure to never angle her body that much in his direction, but the third day she'd forgotten herself. Turning to raise an eyebrow at some ridiculously corny joke he'd spurted, she froze, releasing a hiss as a hand flew to cover her eye. He, of course, panicked in true Adrien fashion, but when she pointed out that this was exactly the reason she hadn't told him in the first place, he tried to control himself. That didn't mean that he hadn't silently fumed ever since, or silently plotted Nathalie's murder every time they were in the same room.

Marinette said she actually liked it, that it made her look more badass even if it wasn't exactly a conventional beauty standard. When Adrien replied that she could never not be beautiful, she rolled her eyes but blushed, and he counted it as a point in his favor. He hadn't been lying, though. Looking at her now, her cherubic face marred by the scar she'd given herself to protect _him_ , Adrien had never seen something more beautiful. He'd never seen _someone_ so beautiful. Even after he hurt her, she cared enough to put herself in harm's way if it protected him. And he'd done the same.

Adrien never experienced that kind of love before. He wondered if this was what a family was like, because suddenly he could think of a lot of people he go to the ends of the earth for. Looking back at the slumbering girl, he knew she topped the list.

Adrien shifted, sitting on the ledge and still hidden in the shadows, but needing to be human for a moment.

"I love you," he whispered out, barely audible, but needing to say it to her even if she couldn't hear. Looking down at his empty hands, he continued. "I don't know _how_ to love you, and I don't know if I deserve to, but I do. You're wonderful and caring and beautiful and for some reason you chose me once. I know I screwed everything up. You trusted me and came to me, and I laughed in your face, too much of a coward to face what you were saying. But I'll never make that mistake again. You're too important," he sighed, clenching his hands into fists and squeezing his eyes shut against the tears that threatened. "I can probably never fix us," he continued after a moment, pulling his knees up to his chest and opening his eyes to stare down from the ledge as he spoke the next words as fervently as his hushed voice allowed. "But I promise I _will_ get you out of here."

"Never say never," he heard her whisper back, and his eyes shot to hers, fire spreading across his face as he realized she'd heard him. Marinette looked at him seriously, though, moving to sit up in her prison. "Nothing is truly broken if you care enough to fix it," she tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear before moving to mimic his position and curling her legs into her chest. "And I think you do."

"I do...what?" He gaped at her, his chagrin at being overheard still muddling his brain. She just smiled softly.

"Care."

She said the word simply and he felt his jaw drop further, nodding and trying to find his voice to respond.

"I-I do," he choked out and she smirked at him, her eyes slanting deviously in her amusement.

"That's the second time I've gotten you to say that, kitty."

"I know the perfect place for a third," he smirked back, his response coming naturally, and he was not disappointed when he watched as she threw her head back and laughed. A joyous sound that grated against their dour surroundings but radiated like the sun within Adrien. Her bangs, now too long and falling in her eyes, lay askew across her forehead and she was still much thinner than he'd ever seen her, but her eyes sparkled for the first time since he'd been there. They regarded him with the same amused-exasperated expression he'd come to cherish from all their stolen moments. It was the look that told him he was a dork, but he was _her_ dork, and that was all that ever mattered. He'd tell horrible puns and spew eye-roll worthy pick-up lines until the end of time if Marinette would just keep looking at him like that.

He'd never longed for her touch as he did in that moment. To brush the bangs out of her eyes… trace the slope of her cheek... kiss the bridge of her nose…

"Do you think-" he cleared his through, his eyes darting back to find hers already watching him. "Do you think you could again too? Lo-Care," he amended, not wanting to push his rotten luck. "Care about me?"

The smile fell from her face, but her eyes didn't leave his as she regarded him for an eternal moment. He watched as confusion, pain and tenderness crusaded in her expression, her lips pursing as her eyes started to swim.

"Chaton," her voice broke and he felt his heart rip at the sound. "As angry as I was...As much as I wanted to-" she sniffed, shifting to wrap her arms more securely around her knees. "I never stopped. And against my head telling me it could be a very bad idea, that my bullheadedness and your tendency to dissociate from your emotions could be a volatile combination to rival our powers...I might just choose you again, Adrien Agreste."

He blinked at her, distracted by the delicate blush blossoming across her face as her words filtered slowly through his consciousness. He opened his mouth to respond but only a sound akin to a duck being strangled to death emanated from his throat. He slapped a hand over his mouth in surprise but his face broke out into an exuberant smile as Marinette dissolved into peals of giggles. Then it finally hit him. She didn't hate him. She _really_ didn't hate him!

"Careful with that smile, Kitty," she warned with a smirk. "You might break something."

"How about _you_ out of that cage so I can just as kiss that smirk right off your gorgeous face?" He offered and she laughed again.

"You're ridiculous, but seeing how neither of us know how to get out of here, I'd say that plan has to wait for another night," she shook her head, but Adrien was delighted beyond words to see a healthy color in her face again. "Now go," she made a shooing motion. "The guards will be back any minute."

He pouted, shifting and sitting on his haunches.

"5 more minutes?" He whined and she laughed again.

"You're insatiable."

"For you, m'lady? Al-" his response broke off as his enhanced ears heard rapid footfalls echoing across the grand hall. Marinette grew silent too, picking up on his cocked head and alert ears with ease and making one last shooing motion before turning to face away from him. He slinked back into the shadows and watched as Marinette feigned a restless sleep, alternately whimpering and giggling to cover their earlier noises.

A moment later the two guards entered the room. Both shot a quizzical glance up at Marinette, but continued on their way. Adrien paid them no mind, his eyes focused on two much more worrisome iridescent orbs that had suddenly appeared in the overlook across from them. He backs further into the shadows, freezing when he's sure the eyes are staring directly at him. Before he has a chance to wonder if they're real or a trick of his paranoia, they vanish again.

Not wanting to risk putting Marinette in more danger, Adrien takes a cue and does the same.


	32. Chapter 31

Stashing her signature heels inside the door to her quarters, she slipped on the much more practical leather boots before padding down the hall silently. Usually, she enjoyed the click of her steps echoing through the barren halls. It was a secret pleasure of hers to watch people shrink away as they realized just who was coming their way.

Tonight wasn't a night for that. The last thing Nathalie needed was to announce her presence tonight, and walking to the meeting point, catching her informants unawares was its own kind of thrill. She rounded the corner to find Serpe and Wasp waiting just where she told them, their backs to her.

"Boys," she whispered. Wasp simply turned, an indifferent expression on his face, but she watched in delight as a shock ran through Serpe. He turned to regard her with a hint of anger in his eyes. He lips quirked up in a smile. Can't have then getting too used to her announcing her presence.

"A little warning," Serpe grumbled, but Nathalie ignored him, instead turning to Wasp. She had been hesitant to trust the man at first. He'd acted as Gabriel's lackey for nearly as long as she had, but unlike Serpe, Wasp's eyes held a little too much intelligence for her liking. They'd both proven their loyalty enough to escape Hawkmoth's manipulation, but Wasp lacked the deference that most gifted to their leader. At first, this infuriated Nathalie, but later, when she started to realize her loyalty to the cause was being severely undervalued, she recognized a kindred spirit in the man. He appeared to most as just the muscle behind the operation, but his mind was cunning enough to challenge hers. Of course, this wouldn't do for long, but until she got what she wanted, Wasp could be very useful.

"What's our count?" She asked, not wasting time on useless pleasantries.

"27," Wasp responded immediately and Nathalie scoffed.

"That's only two more than last week."

"Actually, it's seven more."

"Explain," Nathalie demanded and Wasp shook his head, clearly confused himself.

"There have been a series of...disappearances. No one has said anything, addled as all their brains are it's doubtless because they haven't noticed."

"How many? When?" Nathalie started firing off questions, but Wasp returned her gaze steadily.

"So far, about 21, only five of ours, and it started about ten days ago."

"Do we know who?"

"Of ours? Yes. I've stricken their names from the ledger. The rest? There's no way of knowing. I doubt even Hawkmoth has a complete list of everyone in the compound."

"Shit," Nathalie's mind started racing, not sure what to do with this new development. It wasn't necessarily bad news. After all, it meant less people to protect Hawkmoth from her coup, but at the same time, she didn't care for being kept in the dark. Then she looked back up at Wasp and noticed a curious light in his eye.

"What are you not telling me?"

He smirked, seeming to enjoy testing her perception. She allowed it as far as he was useful, but his annoyingness was certainly starting to outweigh his more favorable qualities.

"One of them was Paon."

That stopped Nathalie cold. Paon had been there longer than anyone. If the rumors were true, she was the first to join Gabriel, having been a close friend of his wife's. Nathalie had seen the look in Paon's eyes on more than one occasion, the healer clearly disagreeing with Hawkmoth's more violent methods, but her loyalty never seemed to waver. Then Nathalie remembered the way she'd regarded Adrien in the testing chamber that day. To anyone else, she'd seemed methodical and professional in her medical assessment of the boy, but Nathalie had seen the tender glint in her eye and the gentle way she brushed his hair back before checking for head injuries. She'd seen pictures of Adeline, and there was no denying the resemblance between mother and son. If Paon had really been friends with Gabriel's wife, then perhaps her loyalties lay more with the son than the husband.  
She let out an agitated groan as she absorbed this new revelation. Now, not only was Adrien giving his father ideas about just who should inherit his empire, just _who_ deserved to stand beside him as he made the statiques burn, but he was already winning over loyalties. And she couldn't have that. As blind as Gabriel might be, she saw the Agreste child for what he was. His father was so ready to find excuses, explaining away his slips with their electrical system as due to his uncontrollable power, so desperate to figure out what made his transformation so much more potent than others, but Nathalie wasn't so naive. If he were truly out of control, Adrien would have destroyed everything in that testing room, the girl included, but somehow she emerged completely unscathed, her only wound a conveniently angled arrow in the gut.

No, Adrien was here for one reason only: the protector. He was fighting for the enemy and he needed to be handled. She just needed to figure out how.

"Location 2 tomorrow," she spat at Serpe and Wasp and with a flick of her wrist, she dismissed them before turning in the opposite direction of her quarters. The compound at night was her favorite, reminding her of how she'd run with her brothers through them when they were young. Gabriel had taken them all in, promised them a life of freedom and safety… But they were gone now, and she was finally done believing his empty promises. So she walked, her quiet footsteps echoing eerily as she struggled to recall Rafa's boisterous laugh and Gio's exhilarated shout….if she concentrated enough, she could almost hear it.

Then she froze, her eyes opening from her reminiscing as the sound echoed through the halls. A laugh, yes, but feminine and...coming from the great hall. She immediately shifted, dripping to all fours and sprinting in that direction. Her honey badger form had only been blessed with slightly elevated speed, but combined with her wit, it was usually enough. Tonight, though, she yearned to be faster.

She knew Gabriel had posted double the guards since his precious boy came to stay, but Nathalie had always been more concerned about the girl. She was clearly holding back, not showing them the full extent of her abilities, and even in the repression cuffs, Nathalie doubted whether two guards were really ample force to stop her.

Just before she rounded the corner to the observation point that would put her closest to where the girl should be, a whimpering echoed softly through the halls. Her head peeked around the corner, careful to stay in the shadows as she observed the sleeping teen, alternately giggling and moaning in her apparently restless sleep.

She is about to retreat, chalk it up to the girl's deteriorating mental state, when she saw him. Hidden in the shadows, same as her, but his unmistakable green eyes glowing as he watched over the prisoner. In that moment, Nathalie knew he needed to disappear. The girl was too well contained to explain her absence, but others had recently vanished. Hell, Paon was even gone. Adrien would be no different.

Fading back into the shadows, she sprinted down the corridor to the guards quarters, shifting before opening the door. Wayzz and Gorilla stood at attention immediately, ready to receive her orders as second in command without question.

"Take care of the Agreste kid."


	33. Chapter 32

Plagg bolted up from a deep sleep, his brow breaking out in a cold sweat as the familiar sensation washed through him. Untangling himself from a slumbering Tikki, he rolled off the side of the bed, swinging his feet over and placing his head between his knees for stability as his vision went black.

 _Adrien flopped on the mattress with a sigh. He was in "his room", the overly comfortable prison his father fashioned for him, not that his electrical locks and safety measures kept Adrien in. Plagg smirked remembering the first night Adrien had broken out; rolling his eyes when he realized the door was locked and sending a quick burst of destructive energy through its circuiting. Plagg had never been so proud. He still worried, of course. Tikki's vision hadn't changed, and the boy did tend to get emotional, especially about Marinette. It would be so easy for all their hard won training to fly out the window..._

 _Plagg turned his thoughts away from worrying and focused on what the memory was trying to show him._

 _It was a familiar scene, Plagg had witnessed the boy collapse with exhaustion most nights after a full-day of mental combat with his father. Adrien had the mental agility necessary to spar with his father, he'd had more practice than anyone at anticipating Gabriel's next move and steering the game in the direction he prefered, but the kid morally was too good. Adrien was too kind to actually enjoy the game. Instead of being energized like his father, the boy ended most days in a vegetative state of staring at the ceiling before passing out._

 _Today was different._

 _Plagg knew he went to visit Marinette most nights, and he could see the way just being in her presence boosted his morale, but Adrien always came away with a bit of sadness-no doubt because Adrien had a horrible habit of harping on all his past mistakes. Tonight, that sadness was nowhere to be found. Instead, the boy catapulted onto his bed and the breath that escaped his lips sounded wistful through his smile._

 _Plagg couldn't help but smile too. So the kid was finally winning her back. Good. Though he doubted the girl had ever really hated him as Adrien assumed. Plagg could tell from the few times he'd met her and from the memories Tikki willingly shared with him that Marinette wasn't the type to hold a grudge, however stupid Adrien might have been. Besides, the kid was king of over the top gestures. If becoming a spy to take down your own father didn't prove to Marinette that he was hopelessly besotted, than nothing would._

 _The vision started to fade as Adrien's eyes fluttered closed on the brink of sleep and Plagg breathed a sigh of relief. Usually when a vision hit as hard as this one, it was less pleasant: something the universe wanted him to see whether he liked it or not. He didn't often get to just see his kid being happy. It was a refreshing shift._

 _He took a breath, preparing himself for the vision to end and to be catapulted back to the present, when a noise sounded and Adrien sat up in bed. The boy glanced around, finally finding the source as his door swung slightly ajar. Sliding off the bed, what does the idiot do? He starts walking towards it._

 _Plagg feels like he's paralyzed watching the most cliche horror movie play out in front of him. He isn't sure if he wants to yell "Don't go out there" or groan at the predictability of it all. Except this isn't a movie, and it's already in Adrien's past. Even if Plagg could reach out and slap him in the back of the head like he so wants to, it won't change anything._

 _Adrien places his hand on the door, and the vision goes black, but not because it is over. Plagg still feels the sensation of the fabric being slipped over Adrien's eyes and his hands and feet being swiftly tied before he is slung over someone's shoulder. He tries to wriggle away, but is paralyzed, as if frozen in his own bubble of time. It's a strangely familiar sensation to Plagg. He is sure he's felt it before, but he can't quite place it._

 _He feels the cool air against his face and the scent of petrol fills his nose while the rumble of an engine flares to life nearby. The person carrying him adjusts his hold and the blindfold slips for a moment, long enough to realize they are outside and to catch a glimpse of a large man with salt and pepper black hair walking ahead of him._

" _Eyes," he barks out, and a hand immediately covers Adrien's vision again. The screech of metallic signals the opening of a car door and Adrien is tossed unceremoniously into the back of what Plagg assumes is a van._

 _After an eternal moment, a shudder passes through the floor as the car starts. Plagg can feel Adrien's anxiety as he struggles past the unnamed force still paralysing his body, but is helpless. He is merely a spectator._

Plagg came to with Tikki kneeling next to him, her oversized sweatshirt bunching at her knees and her hand rubbing soothing circles into his back.

"That one was longer than usual," she murmured, laying her head against his shoulder. "You alright?"

Plagg opened his mouth, dry gasps only escaping as he struggled to find his voice.

"Adrien," he managed to rasp out past his suddenly parched throat. "They took Adrien."

Then his is out of bed and tearing through his dresser for clothes as Tikki yelps to scramble after him.

"What? Who has Adrien? Is he alright? What happened?" Tikki scuttles after him, following his mad dash through their apartment as anger rolls off of him in waves. He never liked this plan in the first place. He was too young. Too easily distracted. Not trained enough.

Plagg yanked a henley over his head and turned to grab his pants and boots when he almost collides with a very pissed pixie blocking his way with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Plagg! Answer me, now! What did you see?"

Any other time, he would have found her adorable. Indignant expression and fierce gaze jarring against the oversized mickey mouse sweatshirt that hung to her upper thigh and short black hair flattened on one side. Her amber eyes shone up at him as the dim moonlight highlighted the smattering of freckles across her nose. He'd really never seen something so perfect.

This wasn't any other time, though, and through his furious and terrified vision, Tikki wasn't his partner, she was his problem. She had supported Adrien doing this and now he was being carted off to who knows where for slaughter. But not if Plagg had anything to say about it. No one was going to touch his kid.

"Move," he hissed through clenched teeth, but Tikki only narrowed her eyes, planting her socked feet more firmly on the ground.

"No."

They stared at each other, Plagg biting back the urge to scream all the things he wanted to. How this was _her_ fault. Adrien was there because _she_ agreed with Fu. He was there because of _her_ mentee.

She watched him fume, as if being able to read the accusations he dare not say aloud in his eyes, until the fire burned down. He knew it wasn't her fault. It wasn't even Marinette's fault. Adrien had a mind of his own and the unfortunate coincidence of being Hawkmoth's son. He'd had been in danger sooner or later.

That didn't change the fact that he needed to go to him.

"Cookie, please," he tried again, and Tikki softened hearing the change in his tone. "Someone kidnapped my kid. I need to find him."

"Then _we_ will," she stated, glaring at him and daring him to contradict her.

"Okay," he said instead and she nodded, coming to place a hand on his shoulder. He leaned down obediently, allowing her substantially shorter frame to reach up and place a kiss on his temple, before she was off in a flurry of getting dressed herself.

When he had just finished lacing up his boots, a knock on the door sounded and he froze. Not a moment later Tikki stumbled out of the bathroom, still pulling one leg through her leggings and looked at him quizzically.

"Who?"

He shook his head, finally moving to open the door, the breath leaving him as he saw who was on the other side.

Without a word, he grabbed Adrien by the shoulders and crushed his stupid blonde head to his chest, taking deep steadying breaths as Plagg allowed a few moments to convince himself that Adrien was really in his arms and completely in one piece. Then he pulled back and placed a swift slap to the back of his head.

"Hey!" They boy whined, grimacing up at his mentor as he rubbed the back of his head. His whine had never sounded so beautiful to Plagg's ears, but he would of course never tell the kid that.

"What the hell were you thinking!" He screamed, still holding Adrien's shoulders and starting to shake him. "Have you never seen a horror movie? Don't go towards the creepy door that suddenly opens! Especially with your guard down! Remember those handy powers of destruction?"

"Yeah," Adrien winced, knowing what was coming next.

"Where the hell were they?"

"I don't know," Adrien mumbled and Plagg threw his hands up in the air.

"Why do we practice these things is you're not going to use them?"

"Sorry," he muttered, looking sufficiently scolded and Plagg moved to slap him in the back of the head again, but instead pulled him in for another hug.

"You fucking scared me, kid," he breathed, feeling Adrien wrap his arms around him in return.

"Sorry," he said more genuinely this time and Plagg finally moved to look at the other man standing in the doorway.

He met Wayzz's eyes, the man finally stepping into the light of the doorway and nodded his thanks. His old friend just smiled in response as Tikki finally cut in and ripped Adrien from his arms to smother him in a hug of her own. Didn't matter that she was half a foot smaller and much more petite. Adrien was soon overwhelmed by her mothering as the two other protectors looked on in amusement.

"What happened?" Plagg turned to Wayzz and the man shook his head.

"I don't know what he did, but Nathalie came storming into the guards quarters and demanded we take care of him."

"Nathalie?" Plagg looked at him in confusion. His understanding was that she was just Gabriel's sidekick.

"She's more powerful than she seems. She's Hawkmoth's second in command and there are rumblings that she has even more support than he does in some circles. So, in his absence, her word is law. Plus, no one actually knows what her power is. There aren't even solid rumors. It's enough to inspire fear and loyalty in most of the army."

"So when she commands you to make someone disappear…"

"We do it," Wayzz confirmed and Plagg looked over as Adrien joined them.

"She gave the command without my father's consent," Adrien added and Plagg cringed at the hopeful note in his voice. The kid was still trying to find redeeming qualities in his psychopathic pops.

"We have no way of knowing that," Wayzz answered before Plagg could say something he would regret.

"Well, we'll see what he has to say about Nathalie's overstep when I go back."

Plagg and Wayzz just looked at each other while Tikki cringed.

"Uh, Adrien?" She placed a hand on his shoulder, searching for the words to break it to him softly. Plagg didn't have suck qualms.

"You're not going back," he stated, as if it was the beginning, middle and end of the discussion. Adrien glared at him.

"Yes, I am."

"No," he retorted, knowing he sounded like a twelve year old as he did so, but not caring. "You're not."

"Marinette is still there!"

"And Wayzz will make sure she stays safe until we can get her out!"

"That's not enough," Adrien insisted and Plagg couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"I'm not letting you walk back into danger-where someone just tried to order your _execution_ ," he reminded Adrien. "Just so you can have little midnight dates with your girlfriend."

Adrien glared at him, a true fury Plagg had never witnessed before flashing through his eyes.

"I _will not_ just leave her there," Adrien started to glow, and Tikki and Wayzz took a cautionary step back. Plagg held his ground.

"Go to the other room and calm down. You're not helping you case by lighting up like a Christmas tree."

Adrien looked down, his surprise overcoming his anger as the glow subsided. Tikki took a step forward.

"Come on, Adrien. I'll get you a change of clothes."

She herded an embarrassed teen into their bedroom and Plagg watched until the door shut before turning back to Wayzz.

"Tell me more about Nathalie…"


	34. Chapter 33

Tikki sat Adrien in the chair in the corner to sulk while she went through Plagg's drawers to find some clothes that would fit the boy.

"You smell like you were rolling in motor oil," she explained, handing the long sleeve tee and sweatpants to Adrien. He managed a smirk up at her and she nodded in the direction of the bathroom for him to go change. When he reemerged, she pat the spot next to her on the window seat and he reluctantly sat down.

She scrolled through what to say to him, but despite her mothering in relief when she saw him walk through the door earlier, Tikki was completely at a loss as to how to treat sad teenage boys. The only experience she'd had with teenage boys was Plagg, and she definitely did not have motherly feelings towards him. She settled for some common ground.

"How is she?" Her voice was quiet, but Adrien looked up to meet her eyes.

For a moment, he said nothing, seeming to try to find the words as his verdant gaze shifted about, looking at her but not really focusing.

"She's...so strong," he decided, a sad smile coming to her face. "She's exhausted and too thin and clearly stressed, but she's so much stronger than I ever imagined," he grinned, finally focusing on her. "She laughed when I saw her last," he admitted. "Three times."

Tikki had to smile at the boy as he listed this as if it were a personal accomplishment. She supposed it was. After two weeks in confinement, the fact that Marinette could even remember how to laugh warmed Tikki's heart. She _was_ so much stronger than even Marinette realized. Then she looked at the boy whose heart she'd stolen and realized so was he. Plagg worried about how he'd handle it, after years of obedience to a emotionally negligent father, deliberately going against him was no small feat, but Adrien had managed it. He still held onto a somewhat idealized version of his father, but for the most part the rose colored glasses seemed to have been shattered, and his focus was on Marinette.

"You know she wouldn't want you to go back," Tikki whispered and she watched as Adrien's face fell, his whole body slumping against the window in resignation.

"I know," he finally agreed, and Tikki laid a consoling hand on his arm, pleased he'd given in, but still worried for what this meant for Marinette, when the bridge of her nose started to burn.

"Shit, not now," she lifted a head to pinch at the pain when Adrien's eyes shot to hers. She had enough time to register the mesmerizing way the blue glow turned his sage gaze to seafoam just before the present world faded from view.

 _Tikki blinked, the vision coming into focus as she recognized the room easily. It was where she'd first seen Marinette and Adrien together, trapped in a supernova of their own powers. Tinged the sky blue of all her visions, the familiar scene she'd been seeing for a month looked even more ghastly than she remembered. Expect, it wasn't as she remembered. It was doubtlessly the same room and some unnamable part of her insisted that she was seeing the same moment, except everything was different. No longer did it depict the blinding light of creation against destruction. The only light came from the eerie fluorescent lighting and the short pink bursts of Marinette's power._

 _Adrien was nowhere to be found. A part of Tikki reminded herself that she should take comfort in this fact. Since her first foray into this vision, she'd been restless to keep the two apart, to delay or alleviate this outcome. But when she finally had, when Adrien had agreed to step aside, Tikki was accosted with the new future and watched in horror at how wrong she had been._

 _Instead of what appeared to be a stalemate between the two teens, Marinette was fighting a very different battle. This one was not leaning in her favor. Although Marinette's power was formidable, even in the dampening cuffs, but it was easily surpassed by the unhindered force of her foe._

 _Tikki squinted at Marinette's attacker and started in surprise. It was a possum...no. A...badger? Regardless, a small rodent dodged each object Marinette put in its path and each burst of power she sent its way, parrying with a series of growls that Tikki saw rather than heard. Even silent, each bark floated through the air surrounding her mentee and slowly diminishing any will she had to continue. It was an emotional attack, something after weeks in confinement and the disappearance of Adrien, her mentee was even less prepared to fend off. When Marinette fell to her knees, Tikki forced her eyes away, willing herself to see all that the vision needed her to and end this nightmare as quickly as possible._

 _Turing, she encountered an even fiercer battle on the opposite side of the room. A slew of métamorphes attacked a butterfly...a deer...a jaguar. Tikki blinked trying to focus on the scene and failing as the anomaly continued to phase through forms. At the center of the brawl, the métamorphe with seemingly endless forms, Tikki assumed must be Hawkmoth. He kept reverting to a butterfly, but the manipulative powers Tikki had heard about were useless against the prepared army equipped. Tikki watched as they continued to attack, strange implements covering their ears and doubtlessly protecting them from the man's voice. Hawkmoth managed to knock them off a few, commanding those unprotected to fight his assailants off, but his physical attacks were too slow to stop the mass as they steadily closed in on their once leader._

 _Marinette's sob of anguish from behind her caught Tikki's attention just as Hawkmoth was swallowed by the crowd. Tikki spun, instantly forgetting about the man and searching for her mentee. What she saw was her worst fear: Marinette spasming on the ground as her eyes rolled back in her head. Above her was the human form of the badger, ignoring her dying prey completely and smiling towards the melee across the room as Hawkmoth was overtaken._

 _Nathalie._

The vision snapped away, plummeting Tikki back into the present as she gasped for air. Adrien had moved, kneeling in front of her now, hands on her shoulders as she bent over and tried to focus on not hyperventilating.

"Tikki? Tikki! You weren't breathing for over a minute! Are you okay?"

His cries were hushed, but insistent. Not demanding to know what she saw like most, but clearly worried for her well-being. As she caught her breath, she looked at the boy anew, for the first time fully taking in his compassion born out of a life marked by its absence, and that was when she knew.

She couldn't keep them apart. Loathe as she was to send this sweet boy back into the lion's den and the manipulative presence of his father, Marinette needed him. And even if he had resigned himself to step aside and let the rest of them handle it, she could tell by the dimmed light in his eye that he needed to be there to. She knew even if Marinette forgave him, he'd never forgive himself if he wasn't there for her again.

If this change in the vision told her anything, it was that they were clearly partners in more way than one. She was wrong to ever have kept them apart.

"What was she wearing?" Tikki managed to gasp out, still catching her breath and Adrien looked at her in confusion, but followed her question effortlessly.

"Umm, a red sweatshirt and black sweatpants," he said, his eyes still scanning her face in concern. Then his gaze narrowed, as if searching his memory and smiling at what he found. "Her hair was in pigtails," he added fondly. "The left one a bit higher than the right."

If Tikki wasn't still having trouble breathing, she would have caught her breath at how adorable they both were. What kind of person noticed details like that? She glanced towards the closed door of the bedroom and already had her answer. A person in love.

She sighed, knowing _her_ love was going to be furious, but they needed to move soon and she didn't have time to argue with Plagg. What Adrien had described was exactly as Marinette appeared in her vision. He needed to leave five minutes ago.

"You need to go back," she looked up, straightening in her seat and fixing her gaze on Adrien.

"But-I thought-But, you said-"

"Marinette is in trouble," she cut him off and his mouth immediately set into a determined line. He nodded, but looked over his shoulder uneasily.

"Better to ask forgiveness than permission," Tikki shrugged, knowing the last thing the boy wanted to do was to go against his mentor. "I'll deal with Plagg, but you need to go."

Tikki walked over and opened the window for his escape.

He shifted and moved toward the window while she grimaced towards the door.

"One more thing," she turned to issue her last warning, but the blond boy and black cat were gone.

"Shit," she rubbed her palm into her head, berating herself for not having started with the words of caution.

Then the door burst open and Plagg walked in.

"It's Nathalie," he said, looking at her with a fierce determination but also the elation of finally understanding what they were up against. Then he looked around.

"Where's A-" he began before noticing the open window and turning accustory eyes on Tikki.

"Wait," she commanded, cutting off his angry remarks and holding out a hand to him. He took it, glaring but without hesitation, accustomed to her offered visions. His only reaction a sharp intake of breath as he saw the change in their future.

"Adrien's on his way there," she explained when he focused on her again.

"You couldn't stop him," he nodded in understanding, but she shook her head.

"I told him to go," she clarified and Plagg closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in stress.

"You..told him...to go," he gritted out. " Of course you did."

"But he was gone before I warned him about Nathalie."

"Tikki!"

"No time," she brushed by him, going to brief Wayzz. "I know what we need to do and we need Fu and the others. You can shout later."

He opened his mouth to argue, but she stopped and fixed him with the same no nonsense stare she'd given Adrien earlier.

"The kids need us now."


	35. Chapter 34

Marinette was a mess the entire day, amping up her strengthening exercises at a near frantic pace, trying and failing to not look suspicious. No matter what she did, nothing distracted her enough from what had happened the night before, and even attempting to nap resulted in twenty minutes of rest interrupted by urgent thoughts and worries of his safety.

The night before she'd done her best to pretend to sleep, knowing from the cock of Adrien's head that someone was coming and hoping to provide some sort of cover. Even in the absence of any telling sound or confrontation, she felt in her bones that something was off. His presence had retreated too slowly and then later, she awoke from a sound sleep, her heart beating at a breakneck pace. Because she just knew something wasn't right. Despite the feeling receding about a half hour later and being replaced with an utter calm she hadn't herself experienced in weeks, Marinette was still uneasy.

When night arrived, the hall falling silent as it always did, and he didn't show, the unease returned, this time the source one hundred percent her own anxiety. Had he escaped? A part of her would feel betrayed, but a larger part would feel relieved. Sometimes she couldn't shake the feeling that he was at much more risk of danger than she, despite their relative positions. At least with him gone, Gabriel couldn't manipulate him, and they didn't risk being discovered and used against each other.

But what if that was what had happened? If he was taken? Or worse? Marinette remembered the first time she'd met Gabriel and his casual reference to what could have easily been her fate and her stomach flipped. Surely he wouldn't have Nathalie "take care of" his own son. There must be some love, or at least sentimentality, he felt towards his only child. At least, Marinette hoped there was.

Luckily, she didn't have to waste long on such thoughts as she was summoned by the overlord himself.

"Boss wants you for questioning," Wayzz explained gruffly with an exaggerated wink as he locked the hook on the top of the cage. Marinette stared at him, brow furrowed in bafflement to the meaning of the message he was clearly trying to relay, but she didn't get a chance to ask. Wayzz disappeared and the cage rattled. Marinette braced herself to be dragged off the ledge, but instead startled when she was lifted into the air instead. When she entered a distressingly familiar tunnel, she realized where she was going. Back to that first room. To where it had all begun.

Turning, she looked back towards the diminishing figures of the guards. Marinette tried to convince herself it didn't bother her, but it did. As much as she'd attempted to keep herself at a distance, she'd started to rely on the comfort of Wayzz, knowing there was at least more of a chance at being safe in his presence. Knowing she, and for a time Adrien, had at least the chance of an ally. She hadn't wanted to admit it, but some ancient part of her recognized him as a guardian from the moment they met and had trusted him to have her back. When she came into the light, two new guards unlocked her cage and brought her before Gabrel, and she realized just how alone she was.

They settled her in a cool metal chair, the only piece of furniture in the room, and directly in front of Gabriel. Marinette searched his face for any emotion, any inkling of what had befallen his son, but he stared at her stone-faced, dismissing the guards with a flick of his wrist. When the door closed fully behind them, the last release of air signaling the sealing of the room, Gabriel's mask feel and Marinette finally realized why this man was so widely feared. Until now, she'd seen the polite Gabriel, the slightly maniacal Gabriel, even the cold and calculating Gabriel. Now, as she watched all semblance of civility leave his face, all three of those sides collided, mixing with a frightening glint of panicked desperation. It wasn't terrifying in the typical sense. Gabriel didn't suddenly wield a knife or lunge to attack her, but she looked in his eyes and saw no predictability there. For the first time, she started to wonder what the ramifications were of him absorbing all those powers, all those essences. This was who Hawkmoth was and he was clearly unhinged.

"Where is he?" His voice was staccato, each word spat out of his mouth as if he fought for control to utter each syllable. Marinette startled from her slouched posture, leaning back as far as possible in her seat as she processed his question.

"Where...is...he?" She repeated as it dawned on her what he was asking. _Who_ he was asking about.

"Adrien!" He practically screeched at Marinette, Hawkmoth's voice resounding shrilly in the unadorned room. Her mind started to spin. If he didn't know where Adrien was, that limited the possibilities drastically. She tried to hang onto the hope that he escaped, but even as she considered it, her heart told her she was wrong. That boy may have let her down once, but then he'd walked into the flames to come and get her. Adrien made it a point every night when they talked to tell her he wasn't leaving without her, he wasn't going to let her down again, refusing to hear any argument about how she'd gotten herself into this situation and she could get herself out. He'd just look at her, not sarcastically or in disbelief, but with kind resignation. They both knew that despite her protests, her attempts to convince him to save himself, that she was going to need help. She'd tried to convince him that she had Wayzz, and that would have to be enough... Maybe he'd started to believe her? Was that what her fellow protector's wink meant?

"I know you know," Gabriel hissed at her, bringing her back to focus and coming to lean his hands on the arms of her chair. He came closer, glaring directly into her eyes and it took everything in her not to flinch at the intensity of his gaze. She had hoped that he held some fondness for his son, but with the barely contained madness she was witnessing, she realized that Adrien might be the only thing he truly cared about.

"How would I know?" She spat back. "You know very well where I've been and _exactly_ my level of current mobility."

She tried to lace venom in her voice, but Gabriel merely laughed, shifting back into his maniacal personality with an ease that was unsettling.

"Please," he straightened and stared down at her. "I'm well-aware of your little nightly tete-a-tete." Marinette released and involuntary gasp and Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Did you think you were being discreet? Oh, little girl, grown up. Adrien's sudden willingness to join me was far too conveniently timed. I'll admit," he shrugged, a smile gracing his elegant lips, but Marinette had the distinct feeling that all he said was a lie. It was a tactic she was familiar with, over explaining something in the hopes that it appeared to be more believable. It almost never was. Gabriel was scrambling to keep up the act, desperate for it to appear like he'd suspected them all along when it was clear someone only just told him of his son's nightly escapades

"When I saw how powerful he was," he continued, looking past her with a practiced smile. "I had aspirations that he'd come to truly believe in the cause, and I have hope yet. But still, if not, letting him continue his infatuation with you would prove to be the most useful leverage should I ever need it."

"What did you do to him," her anger flowing easily now as the derision in her voice was far from feigned.

"Me?" He roared, storming her chair again with a fury. "You! How did he escape? What did you say to him?"

"If the plan was to escape, please tell me exactly _why_ I am _still here,_ " she gritted through her teeth, but then paused, watching as he shoved back from the chair and started pacing. She watched his expression flit from emotion to emotion and something clicked into place. "You don't know where he is, but you somehow knew that he met with me. How?"

Her voice was demanding and Gabriel paused in his pacing to look at her questioningly. She saw it on the tip of his tongue to reply in his typical haughty manner, but instead, he answered.

"I have people for that."

"The same people," Marinette guessed. "That told you of his sudden disappearance, I'd imagine."

"What are you getting at," Gabriel stopped completely then, turning to face her with narrowed eyes.

Marinette paused herself, everything slowly falling into place, as she tried to temper the racing of her heart. It was Nathalie. She didn't know why, but she was sure of it. Every disdainful comment and venomous look the woman has thrown her way from the moment they met; the conditional loyalty she lavished on Gabriel and the hidden contempt in her eyes the moment he turned his back; her clear suspicion of Adrien...

But something still didn't make sense. Why risk Gabriel's wrath by attacking Adrien? Surely the reason she hung on Gabriels every command was in hopes of his power, implementing herself as a necessity in his life and his second in command.

She looked up to meet Gabriel's gaze.

"You said you had… hope for Adrien," she swallowed. "What did you mean?"

"Every empire needs an heir," he lifted a chin and Marinette felt her heart sink. There it was. There was Nathalie's motivation.

"What is that face? What do you know?" He demanded and she looked at him warily. Everything in her told her not to trust this man. He was the enemy, had imprisoned her for she didn't even know how many weeks now, and had all but admitted to using his son as a pawn. But then she remembered the glimpses of fatherly affection. Add in the fact that he clearly had no idea what his lackey had been up to, and she realized he was her only hope. He was _Adrien's_ only hope.

"It was… Nathalie," she hedged, watching the suspicion creep into his eyes and knowing she needed to approach her words with caution. She had one shot at convincing him, and she had no idea which version of Gabriel Agreste was going to react first.

"She's your eyes and ears around this place, isn't she?" Marinette continued. "Feeding you stories that you accept without question. Stories like my midnight meetings with you son. Stories of his disappearance. Stories that I suspect you only just heard of."

Gabriel continued to stare at her, body impossibly motionless as he gave no hint as to the impact of her words. She forged ahead blindly.

"Adrien and I have been talking since he arrived, but the same night she discovers us together, he conveniently goes missing _and_ she comes to you claiming she knew about our conversations all along?" Marinette cocked her head, never breaking eye contact. "I know you trust her, but come on, Gabriel! Connect the dots! Who has the most to gain from Adrien's disappearance? Not me!"

A moment passed, and then a moment more, but Marinette resisted the urge to speak. She'd said what she needed to, and Gabriel was either going to have her "taken care of" the way he'd threatened when she'd first arrived, or maybe, just maybe, she'd have managed to get through to that distant part of his humanity.

He snapped his fingers.

"Bring me Nathalie."

His voice echoed through the empty room, but Marinette had no doubt there was someone listening in. If this whole ordeal had taught her anything, it was that with Gabriel Agreste, there was always someone watching.

No one responded.

Gabriel's brow furrowed and he stomped his foot, shouting his command again in agitation, and this time the doors swooshed open.

It wasn't guards, though.

"Really, Gabriel. Enough with the dramatics," Nathalie strolled in and rolled her eyes, but Marinette paid her no mind.

Because she wasn't alone.

Her heart started to race, but despite being out of her cage for once and in full capacity of her human body, she fell immobile. The pace of her heart a contrast to the paralysis of her body. Walking in front of her, restrained by a arm snaked around his neck and a specialized métamorphe gun pointed to his head, was Adrien.

Despite his dire situation, he managed to grimace over in her direction.

"Miss me, Bugaboo?"


	36. Chapter 35

Adrien started running across the city before he realized he had no idea where his father's compound was. He'd spent the entirety of his time there shadowing the man and passing his various ability tests, but it had all been in an attempt to win his trust. Adrien had never actually made it to the inquisitive phase.

Changing course, he decided to head for a location he knew all too well. There had to be some clue in his house as to where the headquarters were, and if not, the worse he could do is get himself captured again. It might put Wayzz in a tight spot, but if what Tikki said was right, then it would all be over tonight anyway.

He arrived in the backyard, looking both ways before shifting and slipping easily between the wrought iron gate and through the hedge. Shifting back and brushing stray leaves from his arms, he hopped onto the stone porch and opened the door to the sunroom. Though it may be his favorite room in the otherwise cold house, the sizable backyard and extraneous rooms were still a ridiculous symbol of wealth in the overcrowded city. Adrien had always been envious of the cozy row homes and apartment complexes. Desperate as he was for some human interaction, even the neighborly feuds he'd hear about or see on TV seemed dreamy in comparison to his isolated existence. Now Adrien could see that it was all born out of necessity. It was all to protect his father's past from catching up with him and then, after his mother's death, it had all been to put on the perfect show. Play at the perfect life and land that crucial promotion. Take over the MRA and take over the city.

Adrien walked through the opulent doors to the main house and hated himself for being so blind for so long. He was so desperate to find some redeeming qualities in his father, find the part of him that made his mother fall in love all those years ago, that he'd stuck his head in the sand and refused to see Gabriel Agreste for who he truly was. He may not be all bad, but he certainly wasn't good either and too many people had already been hurt because of it. Too many more still could be. One of them was Marinette, and he refused to let _that_ version of reality come to pass.

Adrien made a bee-line for his father's study, hurrying towards the safe behind his mother's portrait. He'd been acting before, but he had a purpose. If there was any hint as to where headquarters were, it was here.

He swung the painting open, careful to have it completely out of the way before touching his hand to the cool metal of the vault. Not bothering to shift, he sent a burst of destruction through his fingertips and watching in satisfaction as the metal crumbled, but didn't disintegrate. Instead, he swung it open, pleased to see the contents unaffected. He was slowly getting better at this.

Rummaging through paper after paper, he came up with nothing and was at the verge of losing hope when he saw a locket. He recognized it instantly, remembering how it never left his mother's neck. Adrien picked it up, rubbing it between his fingers gingerly. Feeling the indentation of an inscription in the back, he flipped it over and was shocked to see his parent's initials followed by a set of coordinates.

"It can't be that easy," he murmured to himself, pulling out his phone and plugging in the numbers. To his surprise, it was just that easy. The coordinates marked the center point of a park on the edge of the city. A bit more searching and Adrien discovered that it had been bought by a private company about a decade ago and completely refurbished, fitting the timeline of his mother's death perfectly. Scrolling through satellite images, he found three small buildings on the edge of the park, fitting with the few rooms where he'd noticed natural light during his time there.

That's where he was headed.

Looking up a quick route, he tucked his phone away, ignoring the pings of Plagg's increasingly threatening texts, and shifted. He didn't have time to spare.

Sprinting across the street and up to the nearest rooftop, he truly broke out in his full speed, away from the obstacles and shocked gazes of street level. He vaultd across buildings effortlessly, his feet following the path without his mind needing to engage. He usually loved it, the intense freedom of the wind in his fur and the instinctive rush of running faster and jumping higher. But today was different. He'd gotten in enough trouble during his time as a métamorphe to be familiar with the feeling of running for your life. It was terrifying but exhilarating, a game of cat and mouse that Adrien excelled at.

He wasn't running for his life, though. He was running for Marinette's, and if he never experienced this body-cripplingly terror again, it would be too soon. All he could think of was everything she hadn't done yet. All the dreams she'd whispered to him over the phone or in the few stolen moments they shared. Of being a fashion designer. Of studying abroad. Of traveling to meet her maman's family in China. And all the things _they_ hadn't done yet. He wanted to stroll along the Seine with her, hand in hand, in perfect and blissful silence, the only noise her contented sigh as she leaned into his arm. He wanted to make her laugh until she snorted, boisterous and joyful and so _Marinette_. He wanted to watch her roll her eyes at him, jaw slackening as she groaned at a horrible joke he'd told. He wanted a million little moments strung together that spelled out the rest of their lives, intertwined and sparkling like a string of twinkling lights on an eternal evergreen tree.

He slowed, reaching the park and dropping to a crouch as he squeezed easily through the gates and prowled through the shrubbery towards what he spied as the main building. About ten meters away from an entrance, he froze, seeing two men he recognized as guards taking a smoke break. He crouched further, cursing the rustling of a tall grasses as he watched their heads whip in his direction.

"Probably just an animal," the one stated with a shrug, clearly content to ignore the noise, but the other looked at him sardonically.

" _We_ are animals, you dimwit."

Adrien closed his eyes, trying to breath in quiet shallow bursts, until he heard them stop talking and looked again to find one man missing. The hair on his back began to rise.

"Serpe, come on. Can't we just finish our break? You're not actually on duty right now!" The other man called, and Adrien begged for his friend to listen to him. He started to back up slowly, hoping to make a mad dash as soon as he was far enough away, when he heard a hiss from his right followed by a sickly sweet smell filling his nostrils.

His eyelids started to droop, but managed to spot a snake with a diamond shaped head circling him. A shadow fell over them both and Adrien managed to look up.

"I just wanted a simple break," the reluctant accomplice sighed leaning down to grab him by the scruff of his neck. He tried to hiss in protest, but gave in to the losing battle with his consciousness and the world faded to black.

Nathalie frowned at the news of Gabriel's current interrogation before dismissing Wasp with a flick of her head. So the girl had figured it out. She'd be lying if she said she was surprised. Nathalie could tell from the first time they'd met that that girl was too clever for her own good. It would have been better if Nathalie had been able to deal with her the way she'd wanted to from the beginning, but of course Gabriel had been blinded by the girl's powers...all her _potential._

Now, Adrien's little girlfriend was causing just the trouble Nathalie knew she would. Luckily, it was too late to matter.

Gazing down at the slowly awakening form of her prisoner, she smirked. It was time for this charade to stop. It was time to make Gabriel pay.

Kicking the black cat at her feet, she was rewarded with a half-hearted hiss as two green eyes slowly blinked open. She looked down at him, tapping her foot in impatience when he didn't immediately shift back. Sighing, she pulled out her MRA-issued side piece, adjusted the settings and pointed it in his direction in annoyance.

"Remember our old friend the IER I told you about? Well," she smiled down at him. "It works both ways. Either you shift, or I make you," she warned.

He still didn't move. Rolling her eyes to cover a quick glance to check and make sure her own protective bracelets were in place, she pointed her piece and shot, involuntarily cringing as she heard Adrien scream through the forced transformation. She'd learned the hard way what it felt like the one time she forgot to make sure her reflecting cuffs weren't secure. She'd never made that mistake again.

As he lay panting on the floor, his golden hair reflecting blindingly under the artificial lighting, she had a brief moment of panic as the memories of Gio hit her. Just as young...The same pain in his eyes...His strawberry locks so similar… But this was not her brother. Her _dead_ brother, she reminded herself and latching on to the familiar anger instead.

She looked away quickly, trying to pass off her brief moment of empathy as indifference while she switched her gun from "shift" to "kill". Reaching down to grab a still-dazed Adrien by the collar,she yanked him up. The boy stumbled into a standing position, only finding his balance when she wrapped her arm around his neck and placed the cool barrel of the gun to his temple.

"Walk."

He hesitated, meeting her eyes in the glass door before them with a cold calculation that startled her. She'd practically watched this boy become a man, and despite his usually sunny disposition she sometimes forgot that he was still his Father's son. Living as he had for the last decade had forced him to become just as keen as her. He didn't act on it much, preferring to ride out the wave his father's eccentricities and dissociative tendencies, but Nathalie could see in his eyes that he had not been unaffected by his upbringing, regardless of the way he chose to live his life.

Adrien took a step and then another, each deliberate and slow as she guided him through the corridors of the complex through a series of nudges with the gun firmly against his head. They reached their final destination and she took a breath, preparing herself for the moment she'd imagined in her head an endless amount of times, before leaning to scan her iris and. Waiting with anticipation as the doors opened, she watched with disdain as Gabriel stomped with the agitation of a petulant toddler and shouted for her once again.

"Really, Gabriel," she scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Enough with the dramatics."

Striding through the doors with purpose, Nathalie held her head high as she took in the scene around her. The girl sat in apparent shock, her eyes trained with an intensity on Nathalie's prisoner that confirmed her suspicions that they were in league together. No matter, they were both inconsequential in her plans anyway, merely a means to an end.

Then Nathalie's eyes turned to her true target and felt her lips curl in pleasure at the barely perceptible shock that crossed Gabriel's face. She wracked her brain for the last time she'd seen a flicker of such genuine emotion cross his features. He must have been truly worried. Good.

"Miss me, Bugaboo?" Adrien's voice echoed through the room and Nathalie's eyes darted back to the girl who rolled her eyes despite the tension in her posture. Gabriel's eyes flickered between the two and Nathalie instinctively tightened her grip on Adrien's neck, burying her gun further into the thin flesh of his temple. At the sound of his son's intake of breath, Gabriel's eyes spun back to Nathalie, exactly where she wanted them.

"What is this, Nathalie?" His features turned tender, regarding her the way she remembered when he'd first found her, only a child… Memories pelted at her from the past.

 _Cold city streets...her and the boys escaping from yet another government child care facility determined to split them up, to send them to separate homes...They just had to make it another year, Nathalie was nearly eighteen...Then they found the park, private but eternally abandoned and thought it was a safe haven sent from the gods...He found them there, huddled under a dense clustering of trees, a blanket fort padded with cardboard to help insulate them from the cold...He held out his hand, gave them warmth...Unlocked a part of themselves, their heritage, they'd never knew existed...Practically raised them...Protected them…_

 _Until, one day, he didn't._

"Nathalie," Gabriel sighed in exasperation, running a hand across his face in exhaustion. "Let my son go. Tell my why you're throwing this little...temper tantrum."

Nathalie started at his last words, her grip loosening on Adrien as her vision went red.

"Temper...Tantrum?" She gritted through her teeth, trying to think through her anger when a blast of pain flared through her left arm and she dropped it from Adrien's neck instantly. Shocked by the perfect handprint charred into her flesh there, she let Adrien scramble towards his little girlfriend, tucking her burning limb against her stomach and training her gun on Gabriel instead.

He took a step towards her, his hands swinging blasely at his sides as his eyes continued to stare her down, evaluating her the way he evaluated all of them. She couldn't help but laugh.

"You think you see everything, don't you?" She sneered, her nose crinkling in disgust. "You size up every single person who walks through these doors, passing judgement as if you can see their past, present and future in a glance. But you don't, do you?" She lifted her gun further, training it exactly on the center of his chest even as tears threatened her vision. "You used to be my hero, some all-powerful, all-knowing savior sent to take us from our pathetic lies. I knew you were a monster, but it didn't matter because I thought you were on our side. That you would protect up," Nathalie took a deep breath, steadying the emotion in her voice. "Then Gio and Rafa were taken, and you sat idly by. You said we had to bide our time, that we'd make them pay one day, but it's all just some act. Now I know better. You weren't a savior. You weren't even a monster. You're just a fraud and a coward, no better-no _stronger_ -than any of us, and you certainly aren't omniscient. You didn't see this coming, did you, Gabe?"

She spat the name she knew he refused to let anyone call him since his wife and watched as anger uncoiled in his gaze. Slow and deliberate, like a serpent tensing before an attack.

"Your brothers were foolish," his voice was quiet but it roared in her ears. "I had only just started at the MRA. I was in no position to save them, but-"

"But they'd rue that day," Nathalie finished with a humorless laugh. "When Gabriel? When you gained more power? When you were president? When our army was stronger? Well, guess what? All those are true, and _nothing_ has changed! The statiques still live their lives while we cower in the shadows!"

"We've had this discussion, Nathalie. We can't just obliterate the statiques. We need them-"

"Why?"

"To make them suffer!" Gabriel shouted back, his eyes taking on the manaicaly edge she'd come to approach warily, but she was throwing caution to the wind tonight. "To make them pay for what they have done. To watch them live a life of inferiority. They are more useful to us alive than dead."

"You still don't get it," she looked at him in exasperation. "I don't want them to live inferior lives. I don't want them to _live at all_ ," she shook her head at him. "They took my brothers from me, slaughtered them like animals. You don't understand-"

"Insolent child!" Gabriel's voice thundered through the barren room. "They murdered my wife! Don't tell me what I do or do not understand about those cretins." Gabriel stepped towards her, his gaze piteous through his palpable anger. "You lack the vision necessary. I was foolish to ever believe you could follow in my footsteps."

She stood, regarding the man who promised to protect her-to protect her family- and realized he needed to die. She had the vision necessary. He would just never understand it.

"You're only one person, Gabriel," she shook her head sadly, dropping her gun to admire it in her hands as she realized what she must do next. "So you can't really understand. At least not yet. And you're right, it was foolish to believe I'd follow in your footsteps," she lifted her head and leveled a cold eyes at her once-mentor. "I walk behind _no man_. It's time for a change in leadership."

She stared at Gabriel, but lifted her gun to point in a completely different direction. "But first, let me show you what it feels like to _truly_ lose everything."

Her eyes turned towards her target, hunched over his girlfriend's form and completely oblivious as to how his life hung in suspension, and fired.


	37. Chapter 36

Marinette's body finally unlocked the moment Adrien slid to his knees at her side, his hands fluttering over her in anxious worry, checking for any obvious sign of harm. He continued his frantic appraisal until she laid a hand against his cheek and his hands came to rest on her knees, eyes turning to look up at her in a million questions she didn't have time to answer.

"I'm fine," she whispered, prompting him with a look and he smiled up at her.

"Me too," he lifted a hand to hold hers closer against his face and she felt in his touch all the ademendums he hadn't added. _Now that I see you...Now that I'm here...Now that you're close...Now that I know you're okay…_

Then his eyes fell to her wrists as he noticed the cuffs there.

"These need to go," he muttered, lifting her wrist delicately and analyzing the accoutrement for any obvious opening point. The metal was seamless, laying perfectly against her skin in a continuous band. His brow furrowed and she knew he was weighing the benefits of freeing her with the possibility of harming her.

"Just do it, chaton," she whispered, cognisant of the increasing tension between Gabriel and Nathalie behind Adrien as they argued, and feeling a fight eminent. "I'll be okay, but get these things off of me."

He looked up at her, reading what must be a desperate note in her eyes and nodded. Extending just one finger, he started giving short and pointed bursts of destruction all around the cuff. It was painful, each shock reverberating through Marinette as the band was practically melded into her arm at this point, but as she watched the metal slowly deteriorating, she grimaced through it. When the first cuff fell away, Adrien looked up in triumph, only for his face to fall when he saw the cold sweat that had broken out across her brow.

"Bug-"

"Keep going," she demanded, not allowing for his self doubt. "Please," she pleaded and after a moment he did, though she felt his power much more restrained, the process taking twice as long as before.

"You shouldn't have come back," she said after a moment and was rewarded by a sarcastic roll of his eyes. She smiled, brushing a thumb across his cheekbone. "But I'm glad you did."

He didn't look up at her, focused on his task, but did lean down and press the lightest of kisses to the center of her palm. The contact of his lips doing more to heal her throbbing wrists than any pain medication ever could.

"I will always come for you, M'Lady. You're my partner. No matter where you are or how badly I messed up-"

"Stop," she demanded. "I will not have you blaming yourself for this for the rest of our lives. You were an ass, but you did not cause this," her voice was low, but she watched his shoulders lose some of their burden at her words. Then he looked up at her with his customary smirk.

"The rest of our lives, huh? I could get used to that," he gave her a wink and she was too relieved to see him, the true goofy and flirty boy, that she couldn't even manage a witty retort before he was back to work.

Marinette stared at him: the charming set of his mouth, the strong angles of his jaw, the iridescent shine of his eyes...After only a month, he was as familiar to her as her own reflection-as her own heartbeat-and she knew she'd have come back for him, too. They were inexplicably connected, but she'd choose him regardless. He was right. They were partners: in life, in war, and in love.

So when she felt the temperature of the room drop, she knew it wasn't the result of a sudden cold spell in the compound. She looked up, her eyes drawn to Nathalie's as she saw the gun pointed directly at Adrien's back. Jumping to her feet, she felt the last of Adrien's efforts as the cuff fell away and shifted without a moment to spare, throwing a protective field around her unsuspecting partner and waiting for the impact of Nathalie's gun.

It never came.

Marinette opened her eyes and gasped. She wasn't the one who saved him.

She dropped her shield and watched as Adrien turned to the scene that had just unfolded behind him. Taking in a stunned Nathalie and his father lying on the floor, clutching his abdomen in a slippery grasp, the floor around him stained crimson.

Adrien turned his eyes back on Nathalie and released hell.

His aura lit up the room in the most blinding paradox: the pulsing green of springtime and the inky black of midnight. It was magnificent and it was terrifying and Marinette didn't dare even to breathe as it consumed Nathalie before breaking off in Adrien's sobs as he fell to his father's side.

It must have lasted only a moment, only traversing the amount of time that it took her to shift back to human, but Marinette watched as if it unfolded in slow motion. Her eyes darted to Nathalie's form, crumpled on the floor, but didn't dwell on the question of whether she was dead or alive, her focus turning to Adrien as his body shook where he kneeled next to his last surviving family member.

"Adrien," Gabriel's voice sputtered, weak already from the amount of blood he'd lost, but as Marinette regarded him, she realized that for the first time the man seemed whole. As if in knowing he was at the edge of his life, he'd finally found balance within the shattered version of himself he'd become.

"Shh," Adrien hushed, his hands laying on top of Gabriel's and providing the pressure on the wound his father's feeble strength couldn't manage. "Don't talk. Save your strength. Help is on the way."

"No," his father moved his head to one side, unable to turn it back in his attempt to shake his head and Marinette heard Adrien's breath hitch as he realized help would not come in time. "I need to say this to you."

Marinette watched the two as Adrien nodded, willing herself not to intervene in the last moments Adrien would have with his father, no matter how her gut was telling her that these final words would be as manipulative and painful for Adrien as the last decade of interactions with his father had been.

"Your mother," Gabriel started. "I did this all for your mother… And you," he added, swallowing painfully before continuing. "You heard...what I said to Nathalie. You must know. They killed Adeline...The statiques...for being what we are. She was strong, like you," he looked at his son in a rare moment of tenderness, but Marinette was not prepared for his next words. "A protector...determined to guard over their lowly lives, and they... killed her for it."

Adrien visibly started, a chill running through his body as he tried to process this piece of information. Marinette yearned to go to him, but stayed back. As shaken as Adrien was, he didn't move away, didn't release the pressure, and didn't interrupt.

"Your mother," Gabriel emphasized in his failing voice. "It's all for Adeline. If the world were different, if métamorphes were respected as the superior evolution we truly are, she would still be alive. She would still be here. _With us._ "

Gabriel lifted a hand and rested it where Adrien's still applied pressure to his abdomen and the blonde boy turned to look into his father's eyes with such sadness and longing Marinette felt it deep within her own soul.

"We have to do it for her, Adrien. No métamorphe should die just for being who they are."

Marinette watched as Adrien looked at his father, his whole world spiralling with the onslaught of new information as he held his father's life just beneath his hands, and she could see him vacillating. As much as she didn't want to, she understood. She couldn't imagine the pain of losing a parent, and then discovering the reason to be filled with such hatred. Combine that with the bearer of this news bring a dying father who had manipulated you for your entire life, and Marinette was sure she'd hesitate too. But watching Adrien now, she started to truly fear. This was the exact reason she hadn't wanted him to come back. His father still had too much of a hold over him, and she knew denying him, especially now as he pleaded with his dying breath, would rip Adrien apart. He deserved more than that. He'd suffered enough already.

"Please, son," Gabriel spoke again. "Finish what I couldn't. For her."

Adrien shut his eyes, squeezing them against the decisions he was weighing, before speaking.

"You're right," he said finally. "métamorphes shouldn't live in fear or in hiding." His father smiled but Adrien was looking past his father and up to her.

"Adrien…" she whispered, but he smiled softly at her and she stopped, letting him finish. This was still his moment.

"But you and Nathalie are both wrong about the _how._ Mass genocide or subjugation of the statiques just dooms history to repeat itself. And you know what?" He looked sadly down at his father. "Mom wouldn't have wanted it. She was a protector. Like me. Like _us_ ," he amended, looking up at her as she smiled down at him warmly.

"I'm sorry for the hate you've carried all these years, Papa. But I will not take it from you. It ends now, and so does your control over your army. Release them. You know this is not what Mom wouldn't have wanted."

Gabriel started back up at Adrien, disbelief apparent in his features for all but a moment before the cold fury Marinette had come to know well took hold of his expression once more.

"No."

His singular statement, quiet but final, hung heavy in the air between father and son and Adrien just hung his head in resignation. Leaning down, he placed a kiss on his father's forehead.

"Okay."

His whispered acceptance of his father's fate echoed through the room for a moment. The only sound. The calm before the storm.

Then the doors opened, and the silence stopped. They were no longer alone.


	38. Chapter 37

"Please, son. Finish what I couldn't. For her."

His father's weak voice sounded to his ears, even as he heard it infused with all the paternal pride and aspirations he's always longed for. Everything in him yearned to just say yes. Images ran rampant in his mind of the way his father would smile, pleased with something Adrien did for once in his life.

But then he thought of Plagg: the family he never knew he was missing until he came into his life and smacked Adrien on the back of the head when he was being a mopey idiot. He thought of Marinette: the way she could light up his life just by walking into it, and the way she stole his heart from the first time he saw the determined flash of her eyes as she dragged him into that alleyway. And he thought of the protectors: still practically strangers to him, but each having showing him more warmth in the short time they'd known each other than his father had his entire life.

Adrien squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on the family he'd made before opening them to look at the last of the family he'd been born into. He wouldn't lie. A part of him still loved his father. For all his flaws, Gabriel had made him, had clearly loved his mother, and had provided for years everything that Adrien _physically_ had needed. But that didn't mean Adrien owed him anything. While Adrien had tried for years to find snippets of the man his mother had fallen in love with, the whimsical and misunderstood romantic from the tales she'd told him as bedtime stories, confronted with the reality of who Gabriel was now, Adrien knew there was only one option.

"You're right," he said finally, opening his eyes to look down at his father with a pained smile. "Métamorphes shouldn't live in fear or in hiding."

He looked away and up to Marinette, her eyes wary, concerned for him but shining with the unadulterated trusting light he'd feared he never see again from her.

"Adrien," she spoke quietly, her voice barely passing her lips, but when he smiled softly at her she stopped, and imperceptible nod of her head confirming what he'd seen in her gaze. She trusted him to make the right choice. She believed that he would.

He turned back to his father and continued.

"But you and Nathalie are both wrong about the how. Mass genocide or subjugation of the statiques just dooms history to repeat itself. And you know what? Mom wouldn't have wanted it," his voice started to gain strength as he realized he fully believed what he was saying. His memory of his mother faded more and more each day, but he suddenly felt like he knew her better than ever before.

"She was a protector. Like me. Like us," he corrected, looking up at Marinette and bolstered by the love he felt reflected in her features. It was what he remembered his mother looking like. Never malice or hatred like Gabriel, but acceptance and compassion. Maybe that was what had drawn his parents together in the first place, his mother balancing all the darker parts of his father, but it just wasn't enough. Her love was a blessing, but it couldn't change his entire past if Gabriel wasn't willing to choose a different future. Adrien would not make his father's mistakes.

"I'm sorry for the hate you've carried all these years, Papa. But I will not take it from you. It ends now, and so does your control over your army. Release them. You know this is not what Mom would have wanted."

His father stared up at him, disbelief coloring his expression as his mouth opened and closed rhythmically at a loss for words. Then he found one.

"No."

Adrien hung his head, thinking of all the people Gabriel had under his control and knowing the end would not come with his death. He was too powerful. If Gabriel didn't choose to release them from his hold, there was no knowing what would become of his sycophantic army…

Adrien glanced over at his partner, finally realizing the meaning of Tikki's vision and knowing that his purpose here was not only to protect Marinette; it was to protect the world from his father.

He had wanted it to be Gabriel's choice, his dying act to release all those he had wronged, but no. Adrien had to make the hard choice. Nothing in their relationship had ever been easy. Perhaps had been foolish to think his father would spare him this moment.

"Okay."

Adrien breathed out his response, but felt it magnified by the emptiness of the room, the vacuum that was his father's heart.

The burst of air signaled the opening of the doors, and a moment later, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Without looking he could feel that the protectors had arrived, but when he turned was still surprised to see the wrinkled fingers of Master Fu on his shoulder.

"You have made your decision, my boy?" The elder gazed down at him and Adrien felt a surge of gratitude for the man. He'd chosen him for this life and given him his family, but he chalked it all up to fate. It wasn't a gift, and the guardian expected nothing in return. He respected Adrien to make this choice and waited for him to come to the conclusion on his own. The boy nodded, and Fu's eyes softened before he continued.

"Then you know what must be done."

His father laughed silently, his abdomen vibrating under Adrien's hands as a cruel smile overtook his face.

"My death will only be the beginning. Do you think I didn't plan for safeguards? Do you think my control ends with my death?" Gabriel sneered. "I am eternal and so is my power! There is no stopping my plans now."

Adrien stood, ignoring the words of the man he barely recognized below him. They'd both made their choices. He looked down at his crimson hands in horror as the other protectors gathered around them, absentmindedly noticing how Paon checked on Nathalie's vitals in the corner and sent a reassuring nod to Tikki. Marinette was in front of him at once, whipping off one of her layers and wiping at his hands determinedly with the sweatshirt, not meeting his eyes until only a stain of red remained.

He laid a hand on her anxious ones and she flipped it to lace her fingers with his immediately, the glow of their auras increasing with the pounding of their hearts.

"We have to-"

"I know," she cut off his explanations with a weary smile and reached to lock their other hands, too.

"I'll be careful," he promised as their glow increased and flashbacks of the night he'd almost lost control nagged at his confidence. She didn't break eye contact, squeezing his hands and increasing her power.

"I trust you."

She tugged on his hands and pulled him close until their foreheads touched, this final contact sealing what the had to do as the light exploded around them, their green and pink hues somehow combining into a blinding white.

Fu kneeled over Gabriel, his father gasping for breath with terror in his eyes as he looked between the two teens and the guardian. Fu lifted one hand up towards Marinette and Adrien and placed the other on Gabriel's forehead. Adrien watched in agonizing fascination as his and Marinette's combined force flowed into a stream over Fu's arm, curling around his limbs and turning a peaceful blue as it cascaded down over his father. The elder started to chant, the words foreign and yet still grating to Adrien's ears as his entire being reacted against what was happening. But he gritted his teeth and focused on Marinette as she squeezed his hands tighter, a similar uneasy determination in her eyes. Amplifying their connection, Fu chanted louder and Gabriel felt silent, his breathing steadying and eyes falling shut.

Adrien caught movement in his peripheral vision, the other protectors forming a protective circle, silently encouraging. It was bizarre yet right that this was the first time he was seeing them all together, all their faces unfamiliar to him, yet undoubtedly his family. When Plagg and Tikki stepped away from the circle, coming to rest their hands on their respective mentee and lending their strength, Adrien looked back at Marinette and truly let go.

The world started to quake in his vision as he felt the last of his strength waning, but he hung onto Marinette, knowing he needed to end this. He felt a final burst of strength, a wintery blast shocking his senses followed by the nostalgic scent of apples and cinnamon with the warmth of a fire. He knew instantly it was her. That he was right. He'd honored her memory and this was how it needed to be.

Focusing on her presence, maybe in a way, he was fulfilling his father's dying wish, too, even if the man couldn't see it.

So he grit his teeth and did it for his mother.

And for Marinette.

For Plagg.

For the family he'd made.

For the family he'd chosen.

His eyes locked onto Marinette's as he felt Fu coming to the end of his chant, her gaze hazy through his struggle, their bodies swaying under the burden of this responsibility, and their arms latched in an unbreakable bond. She pulled him closer, their noses brushing as Fu said the final words and their auras sputtered to a low light, the room dim in comparison to the supernova they'd created.

 _I love you_

He felt her lips move in a silent prayer against his and tried to respond but felt her collapse into his feeble arms instead.

"Bug?" He managed, trying to imbue the inconsequential word will everything he hadn't had time to tell her. _You're the gift I will live my whole life trying to deserve...My life was darkness until your moon crossed my horizon… Stay, please... Don't leave me again..._

 _I love you, too_

But the fight had left him, and he was left only to hope some part of her soul recognized his as it called to her, the world fading to black.


	39. Chapter 38

Tikki got up from the uncomfortable chair for the millionth time, electing to go for a walk around the circular corridor rather than listen to the symphony of mechanical beeping for a moment longer. It was her shift, Plagg taking a few hours at home for some much needed rest, but despite not having used those hours herself for anything that resembled sleep, Tikki was restless. She'd been restless for en eternity, it seemed. Ever since Marinette had been taken, and it didn't look like she'd been getting sleep anytime soon.

She was about halfway around the wing when the pained groan of a man echoed into the hall, knocking her out of her self-pity and into something far less pleasant. The bridge of her nose started to burn and her temples throbbed as she fell into the nearest chair. Despite the warning signs, she knew this wasn't a vision. It wasn't anything extraordinary. In fact, it was the most ordinary response to what she'd been through, and despite everything that made her so powerful, she was powerless against it. Try as she may, she hadn't seen any glimpses of the future since that night, but was plagued with sickening remembrances of that night.

As tears pricked at the corner of her eyes, she gritted her teeth against the onslaught of the past, the incessant memories that haunted her…

 _After rounding up the other protectors and talking down a furious Plagg, Wayzz had led them straight to the compound, smuggling them in one at a time before guiding them effortlessly through the corridors of the prison he'd called home for far too long, before stopping at at crossroads, unsure of where they were being held._

 _Then Fu stepped forwards, walking calmly to the left and holding his hand out to a closed door. As if on cue, it burst open and Tikki saw her for the first time in weeks._

 _Marinette, alive and whole and smiling over at her as if she'd arrived just in time._

 _Tikki wanted to rush to her, gather her into her arms and promise she'd do better, she'd never let anyone hurt her again, but Fu had already crossed the distance, capturing the teens attention and kneeling beside a dwindling Hawkmoth._

 _And Tikki was paralyzed, watching her vision play out in reality, seeing everything she feared and nothing she expected as the two teens lit up the room in an oppressively magnificent light show. Hands interlocked and bodies pulled together like the strongest magnets, Tikki couldn't decide if the scene was more beautiful or horrifying as she watched their auras ebb and flow in waves of their essences._

 _Marinette's laughter._

 _Adrien's smile._

 _Marinette's determination._

 _Adrien's kindness._

 _Marinette's stubbornness._

 _Adrien's distrustfulness._

 _All that was the two of them melded before her very eyes, somehow striking the most perfect balance as their individual colors became a blindingly pure white glow emanating from every inch of their skin._

 _It was what she had seen all along, but it wasn't the battle she'd expected. It was complete and utter peace. For some reason, this was what the universe had shown her time and time again; not the threat of Nathalie, but the truth of Adrien and Marinette's powers. She had just been too blind to recognize it for what it was. It wasn't creation versus destruction; it was mercy and justice. Something that can only emanate from the purest of intentions, struck in the balance of these two teens, both having suffered at the hands of the man below them, but choosing mercy, saving Gabriel from himself and pouring all that they were into an ancient ritual that would strip him of his powers and release all others from his control._

 _She stepped forward the same time as Plagg, her body shuddering at the foreign words Fu chanted-an ancient part of them recognizing it as the forbidden ceremony to reverse the activation of the métamorphe gene-but she knew it wasn't for her, just like she knew her mentee needed her help to finish this. Tikki had felt so useless these last few weeks. When she finally laid a hand on Marinette's shoulder, feeling her essense pulse beneath her fingertips, she could have sobbed with relief, gladly lending her energy to the girl who had become her sister._

 _Then the supernova became impossibly more brilliant before it faded all together, the typically stark flourescent lights of the room seeming unimpressive and weak in comparison. Looking over at Plagg, they caught each other's eye, sharing a similarly stunned smile as they regarded their kids: powerful and wise beyond their years, managing to defy all odds and put the legends to shame. She spared a glance towards Master Fu as he murmured to Gabriel, the man's face aged dramatically without the stolen vitality of other métamorphes. He finally looked peaceful as his mortal wounds took their toll and he shuddered through his final breath. Fu gently closed his eyes, bowing in a silent prayer._

 _Tikki's attention was brought back to her girl when she tripped forwards, Marinette suddenly collapsing beneath her fingertips and toppling into an unstable and quickly fading Adrien. All three of them dominoed into Plagg's arms as he steadied their descent to the ground and broke their fall._

 _Suddenly, the room was a buzz, protectors running off along the corridors to check on the newly liberated forces of Hawkmoth, but Tikki wasted no time in calling for Paon. Any other injuries would have to wait…_

And they had waited, but not for long. After twenty minutes of using both her human and métamorphe healing skills, Paon simply looked at her and shook her head. There was nothing _medically_ wrong with them and therefore nothing for her to heal. Her official diagnosis was that they were both simply exhausted, and would wake up in their own time. They just needed to sleep; so, Tikki and Plagg left the dismantling of Hawkmoth's army to the rest of the protectors, and took their kids home to do just that.

A week went by.

Then two.

Nothing changed, and Tikki was starting to become more and more restless, not to mention the Dupain-Chengs were growing increasingly frantic in their search for their daughter. It didn't help that so many missing people were suddenly coming back from the dead, all spouting tales that were verbal candy for conspiracy theorists. The protectors had warned them about going to the press with their tales, but they were all free people now, and more than a few had decided that the world needed to know that Gabriel Agreste, upstanding citizen and president of the MRA, was not all he appeared to be. Some human rights activists were jumping onto these stories, suddenly keen to protect these wronged humans and demanding an end to the segregation of métamorphes. Even seeing it as a discussion and not some hidden away secret gave Tikki hope, but her attention was admittedly divided.

On the eve of a month, Tikki and Plagg moved their kids to a hospital. Paon had done her best to monitor them and make sure they were getting the fluids and sustenance they needed, but enough was enough. Traditional medicine wasn't working, so it was time to try modern medicine. Tikki was desperate for anything that could help.

They arrived at the hospital, two teens slumped into the backseat of Trixx's car, the two mentors claimed to have found them passed out in a park, and no one questioned them. So many people seemed to be appearing out of thin air these days, the doctors had likely heard much more far-fetched stories.

It had been two days since then, and if one more person said the word "medical mystery" Tikki was going to scream. The Dupain-Chengs had been by their daughter's side practically from the moment they arrived at the hospital. Tikki received their thanks, in the form of exuberant hugs and an unending supply of food, graciously but with an underlying sense of guilt. They were kind and generous people, and she intrinsically liked them, recognizing all the pieces of Tom and Sabine that made up Marinette, but she still cringed internally at their thanks. Tikki had been supposed to protect their daughter, and she had failed. They shouldn't be thanking her. They shouldn't be so kind to her.

Now the end of the second day, the third night, Tikki sat wiping her eyes after the onslaught of the memory before pulling herself together and standing to walk back to the room before Marinette's dad got back. She didn't want to leave the kids alone for too long.

The hospital only allowed one visitor per patient, and while Marinette's parents were a constant presence, she and Plagg were all Adrien had, and Tikki had finally convinced her partner to take the night off. Tom, apparently having won a similar argument with his wife, was her vigil buddy for the night and generously offered to get them both coffees from the actually edible cafe across the street once it became apparent that neither of them would be sleeping. Again. When she felt a hand on her shoulder just as she turned the corner to their hall, she expected it to be him. Instead, she came face to face with the kids' doctor. Her heart started to race as she watched the woman say the two words she'd been waiting to hear for over a month.

Well, a version of them.

* * *

 **Only one more chapter and an epilogue left** **( º □ º ) I can't believe this crazy story is almost over! Thank you so much to everyone who's commented and followed it as it came out. I really love seeing all your reactions to the story and theories along the way :)**


	40. Chapter 39

Marinette blinked against the blinding light after she forced her eyes to open for the first time in what must have been an eternity. She simultaneously felt mentally well-rested and physically exhausted as the mere act of fluttering her eyelids seemed to take the wind out of her. She blinked a few times, trying to make her eyes feel a bit less like balls of sandpaper and to clear the haze from her vision as she focused on the popcorn ceiling above her. The world around her cast in the pale violet light from the window, Marinette could tell from a lifetime of early mornings helping her parents in the bakery that it must be dawn.

She started to work out the stiffness in her neck, taking in the sparse room and empty bed next to her as her mind registered that she was in a hospital room. It was cool in the room, silent, but despite her solitude, she felt a familiar warmth continually washing over her body. A peacefulness she couldn't quite place.

The door was slightly ajar and she could see nurses as they scampered by. A silhouette moved in the small observation window and she recognized the petite frame of her Maman, hunched over and speaking rapidly on the phone. She opened her mouth the call out, but found her voice wouldn't come. Turning the opposite direction with the intention to find a call button, she froze, her eyes landing on the missing piece.

Adrien.

He sat, curled awkwardly in the too small hospital chair, one leg draped over the arm while the other perched precariously on the edge of the cushion. His back was hunched forward with his chin tucking a blanket against his chest as his breaths came out in shallow bursts. She took a moment to admire him, the dawn breaking across his skin and making his unkempt golden hair shine like the sun. He couldn't be in much better shape than she was, yet there he sat, arms curled across his chest in the nearest chair to her bed possible.

He looked so vulnerable in that moment, she felt a tear running down her cheek as she remembered all he had so recently lost. Sure, Gabriel wasn't father of the year, but he was all Adrien had left, and he'd stepped in front of Nathalie's gun without hesitation. Some part of him loved his son, even if that part had gotten blurred and distorted over the years. No matter what, all of it managed to create the boy she saw before her and she had to thank Gabriel, at least in a small part, for his most miraculous creation.

She still remembered his words to her on her balcony, what seemed like a millenia ago.

" _You're not alone...I've got you, bug."_

Looking over at her slumbering partner, she realized he'd never gone against his word. He hadn't followed her out of the park that day, but she was the one that left. And if he was a little late to follow, well he'd more than made up for his momentary doubt. He'd promised to make it up to her every day for the rest of their lives, and while she'd already forgiven him, she thought maybe she would still collect on the "rest of their lives" part. Just to be safe.

"Adrien", she said, her voice still alluding her as only a breath escaped her lips. His eyes shot open regardless, and she watched with a mixture of shock and amusement as his foot slipped off the cushion, upsetting his whole equilibrium and sending Adrien rolling off the chair and floundering to catch his balance the entire two feet to the floor.

She stared down at him, pursing her lips to hide her smile as he righted himself, flipping onto his side and leaning on his bent arm as if he'd _meant_ to pose like this.

"What's up, Bugaboo?" He sent his smirk her way and winked up at her. She felt her entire body start to shake with laughter as a dry heaving sound came from her throat. Adrien scrambled to a standing position, only slipping slightly on the blanket tangled around his legs as he rushed to grab a cup of water for her, helping to hold it to her lips when her own arms were too weak.

"You had me worried, Bug," Adrien whispered to her as she greedily guzzled the entire cup of water before coming back up for air.

"Adrien? Are you alrig-" Her mother came in, likely hearing the commotion of Adrien's tumble, but her words cut off when Sabine's eyes landed on her daughter. Tears flowing freely down her face, Marinette didn't even have a chance to say a word before her mother rushed her, hugging her forcefully but delicately to her chest.

"Maman?" She wrapped her own arms around her mother, burying her face into her neck as she breathed in the indescribable scent of home, in realization that it had been so long since she last held her. Sabine pulled back, her hands framing Marinette's face as her eyes darted across its planes in search for any sign of harm, any lasting damage. Marinette cupped her mother's hands against her cheeks.

"I'm okay, maman. Really."

Sabine continued to scan her over, not satisfied until she'd completed her own examination. A minute later, Marinette was in her mother's arms again.

"Don't you ever do that to us again, do you understand me? I don't care if you're some special métamorphe protector. You are sixteen years old and _I am your mother_. You keep me in the loop," she pulled Marinette tighter, and the girl squeezed back, more relieved than surprised that her mother knew what she was now. From the looks on both her maman's and Adrien's faces, she'd been out a lot longer than she'd initially expected. There was no telling what had changed.

Her mother finally released her and Marinette missed her warmth immediately, but saw the look in her eyes and knew Sabine was on a mission.

"I need to call your father," she wiped delicately at her eyes. "And Alya. And Tikki," she amended to Marinette's surprise, but she didn't have time to ask before her mother pointed menacingly in her direction. "Don't you dare go anywhere while I'm gone."

Marinette threw her hands up in surrender.

"Yes ma'am," she vowed, watching as her mother smiled, coming to kiss her forehead once more, before disappearing back out into the hallway.

She turned to Adrien for some explanation but he was looking at her with his goofy lopsided grin that made the dimple in his left cheek stick out in the most adorable way and she felt tongue-tied for a minute. She opened her mouth to speak, but this time her loss of words had nothing to do with her dry throat. Adrien braced himself on either side of her, leaning down as if to hear what she had to say, but she had other ideas. Grabbing his shirt front with what little strength she had, she yanked him towards her and captured his lips in a kiss. Luckily, he didn't resist, coming to sit on the edge of the bed and cradling her against him with one hand threaded through her hair and the other resting on the small of her back just where her hospital gown gaped. She pulled away, shivering slightly at the heat of his hand against her cool flesh and leaned her forehead against his.

"Sorry," she breathed, but she looked into his eyes and could see how very much Adrien hadn't minded meeting her sudden demands.

"Don't you dare a- _paw_ -logize, M'Lady," he moved his hand from her hair to her cheek, his thumb starting to rub soothing strokes across the arch there as his expression turned serious. "Just to see you awake…" he voice hitched and she unclenched her fists from his shirt to move them up his neck, craving the buzz of his skin beneath her fingertips.

"How long?"

"Since I've been awake? A week. In total?" He gulped, but didn't look away. "Over a month."

She startled back at that, her jaw dropping as Adrien repositioned his hands to her waist to give her space.

"A...month?"

Adrien nodded, watching worriedly as his hand moved to grip the bar that ran parallel to her bed. He moved to get up, but her hand shot out to grab his bicep, suddenly distressed at the thought of him leaving again. He leaned back in, gently disentangling her hand and placing a kiss on the center of her palm.

"It's okay. I know," he placed her hand gently on the bed as he stepped away this time. "I'm just getting you another pillow."

He walked back over, pulling her forward as her resettled the pillows behind her back. She stared up at him, giving him a look when he moved to sit back in the chair next to her. Smiling, he kicked off his shoes and laid next to her, settling into the pillows he'd just rearranged as she opted to use his chest instead.

Her mind was spinning with questions. _What happened? Why were they out so long? Did it work? Was everyone safe? How did her mom know she was a métamorphe? How did her mom know_ Tikki _? Did that mean Alya knew now, too? How was_ he _?_

Her mind settled on the most difficult, but the most urgent.

"How are you?"

She spoke quietly, but felt him stiffen under her touch.

"I'm...It's not real yet," he admitted. "Plagg had him cremated while we were out and told me he'd help with a simple ceremony if I wanted...but... I'm just not ready to deal with it yet. I mean, he was horrible, but…"

"He was your father," she finished, hating the pain that flared through his eyes but seeing his hesitation to say more. He was still coping, so she didn't push. He'd talk when he was ready.

"Tikki? Everyone?"

"Everyone is fine, worried about you, mostly, but okay," Adrien replied, smoothing her hair back from her face, clearly grateful for the change in subject. "Tikki and Plagg have been here non-stop, questioning the medical staff relentlessly even in the few hours when they went home to rest. I only just managed to convince them last night that I was more than capable of keeping vigil on my own," he looked down at her with a smile but concern was etched into his face. "They've barely slept in a month."

Marinette nodded, tucking her head against his shoulder. That sounded like Tikki. She hated that she'd put her friend through so much, knowing how Tikki had already lost so many people, but she smiled imagining her sprite of a mentor giving hell to anyone who'd tried to take her from Marinette's side. She couldn't have asked for a better sister had she been born with one.

"And everyone else?" She prompted when Adrien remained silent.

"They're fine," he rushed to assure her. "Just...dealing with a few new challenges that have arisen."

She raised an eyebrow at him, huffing when he was reluctant to go on.

"Like?"

He sighed, but leaned further back into the pillows, instructing her to get comfy.

Then he told her everything, and she realized thinking she had "missed some things" turned out to be the understatement of the century. The city was undergoing a cultural revolution. Adrien told her about the sudden reappearance of all of Hawkmoth's army, most of them missing persons having been declared legally dead long ago, and a large majority of them refusing to live in the shadows like criminals. They were different, which for some people meant scary, but they had rights just like anyone else, and being abducted and forced into some rogue army definitely violated those rights. Perhaps if métamorphes had better recognition and protection from the government to begin with, this never would have happened.

Suddenly, with the inundation of these missing loved ones, all métamorphes and proud, it was like the rest of the world woke up and realized how barbaric the MRA truly was. These weren't people sick with some unmentionable disease, it was an entire race the world had tried to push into extinction before realizing "Hey, these are human beings, too."

Marinette's eyes were throbbing from rolling them so much by the time Adrien finished his update and he couldn't help but chuckle at her.

"But the protectors are making sure everyone is readjusting as well as possible, and a certain new protector has been writing articles non-stop on her new, very popular métamorphe rights blog. People's minds are changing."

Marinette smiled a little at that, still stunned that her best friend was one of the newest protector trainees. There was no one more worthy, and no better advocate, than Alya, though Marinette worried about her friend making herself a target. As unfair as it was, the transition would not be simple for métamorphes, and probably even harder for some statiques.

"We're slowly coming out of the shadows. It's a good thing, Mari," he reminded gently and she huffed again in response.

"I _know_ it's a good thing, I just wish the statiques could have realized that sometime in between the witch trials and the government 'readjustment' programs," she muttered, curling further into Adrien's chest and working through her next thoughts before continuing.

"What do you think this means for us? I mean, I don't doubt there will always be protectors, but for regular métamorphes? There are so many of us just walking the streets now. Do you think...do you think the gene will maybe come out of hiding?"

"What, like...the werewolves from that movie?"He smirked down at her and she smacked his chest.

"Didn't you do any research when you were chosen?"

"No," he admitted with a chastised grimace and she rolled her eyes at him.

"That's how it used to work," she informed, using her teacher voice as she poked his stomach and giggled at his squirming. "We tended to travel in packs, métamorphes activating when we settled nearby."

"So we used to steal people from their villages."

"No," Marinette poked him again. "They were given a choice. It used to be an honor, before the witch trials started, and then we broke off, trying to protect our own. But can you imagine that being a reality again? Everyone with the gene knowing where they come from and having a choice to embrace it?"

"Maybe," Adrien allowed and Marinette sighed, understanding his reservations and knowing nothing was going to happen overnight.

"Well, at least they're not trying to kill us," she finally said and Adrien laughed outright.

"That's true," he rearranged his arms around her, pulling her closer into his protective embrace. "But let's keep a low-profile for now. No need to go advertising our extra abilities just yet."

"Extra abilities?" She pulled back, propping her chin on his chest to look up at him. "Are there some I don't know about? Have you been holding out on me, Agreste?"

He smirked.

"Got to keep the mystery alive," he booped her nose as she scowled at him. "What's wrong, bug? _Feline_ out of the loop?"

"I don't believe you. Prove it."

"Well, let's see," he held up a hand and started ticking off his finer qualities. "Super speed? Check. Super strength? Check. Enhanced vision and hearing? Double check."

"Devastating smile and dashing good looks? Check," Marinette added.

"Perfectly quaffed hair? Check," he smiled down at her, his dimple making another appearance much to her delight.

"Powers of destruction? Oh boy, check," she laughed, adding probably his most potent ability but watched curiously as his face fell.

"Ability to almost completely and irrevocable mess up and lose the the best thing that's ever happen to me?" He looked down at her, his eyes holding a whirlpool of emotion. "Check."

"You could never lose me."

"I almost did. Mari, I almost did and it would have been all my fault," he whispered back and she sat up, pulling him with her to look him straight in the eyes.

"No," she held his face between her hands. "We had one argument, Adrien. You're allowed to make mistakes in a relationship. It's what you do after that defines you. It's not your fault I happened to be kidnapped, but I think you sure as hell proved that you're with me through thick and thin."

He looked down.

"You probably hated me," he whispered and she loathed the brokenness of his voice, but wouldn't lie to him.

"Yeah, at first, I did," he closed his eyes against her words, but she leaned in, their noses brushing before she spoke again. "But I never stopped loving you."

He opened his eyes then and she gave him a shy smile.

"I'm so sorry, Mari," he shook his head lightly. "If I have to spend the rest of our lives proving it to you, I will."

"Adrien," she looked at him in exasperation. "I don't need you to prove it to me. You're my partner-in love, in life, in battle, and even in that damn debate that we both have definitely failed at this point," he smirked at her but she wasn't done. "I trust you, but, if you don't mind," she gave him an impish smile. "I might just take you up on the promise of the rest of our lives. How does that sound, kitty? Think you'll want me that long?"

Adrien didn't respond for what could have been minutes or an hour, Marinette lost track of time caught up in the pounding of his heart, the brushes of his hands, and the exuberance of his lips on hers. When he did answer, the promise in his voice was undeniable.

" _Furr_ -ever."


	41. Epilogue

Marinette rearranged the bridal bouquet, catching Adrien's eye as he walked past the slightly ajar door and winking, delighting in the way he blushed and clutched a hand over his heart in true dramatic fashion before continuing down the hall.

After two years, she was continually amazed by life with him, how easy he made it to love him, to trust him. True to his word, he hadn't tired of her yet. Through all the growing pains and realizations that despite what they'd been through, they really didn't _know_ much about each other, he'd been by her side, fumbling along with her.

They had their first date two weeks after Marinette was released from the hospital and she still laughed remembering how awkward they had been.

 _She was late, as usual. Except, today wasn't any usual day. It was her first date._

 _Yes, it was with Adrien. And yes, they'd already broken up, fought a war, gotten back together and exchanged "I love you"s, but it was still_ technically _their first date._

 _And she was late._

 _Stumbling down the stairs, grateful for her flat sandaled feet that at least didn't hinder her already teetering stability, she skidded to a stop at the front door. Pausing briefly to kiss her chuckling parents goodbye, she was out the door in an instant and nearly toppled into Adrien._

" _Mari!" He exclaimed, managing to catch her, but not without dropping the ridiculously large bouquet he'd been fiddling with not a moment before._

 _He steadied her with strong arms supporting her elbows while she grabbed onto his biceps._

" _Hey," she managed weakly, looking up at him with an embarrassed smile. "Sorry I fell for you-I-I mean_ on _you-er-into you!"_

 _She squeezed her eyes shut as a blush dusted her cheeks and groaned internally at what a mess she was. She'd been so confident when they first met. Of course, that was when they were fleeing the MRA. Now, there was no MRA, no Hawkmoth's army, no looming threat of danger; just a girl standing in front of a boy, trying to understand_ why _he loved her._

" _I'm not," he smiled down at her. "Although I would prefer some notice before you de-flower me."_

" _Wh-" Marinette gaped, but then looked down at the rumpled bouquet and then back up at her smirking boyfriend. Smacking him on the chest, she detangled herself from his embrace before crossing her arms over her chest._

" _You're ridiculous," she rolled her eyes as he bent to gather the really-too-large bunch of flowers._

" _But you love me," he retorted, looking up at her from his position on one knee and offering her the flowers with a flourish._

" _I did say that, didn't I," she let a small smile grace her lips before truly looking at the flowers and laughing. "Did you buy out the whole store?"_

 _Adrien grimaced, handing her the bouquet and accepting her hand up._

" _Well," he lifted his hand to rub the back of his neck nervously. "I wasn't sure which was your favorite. And the the florist started telling me all the different meanings...and the more he said, the more I added...and, well...This," Adrien shrugged at her with a sheepish smile as she lowered her nose into the sweet fragrance of the bouquet. It was a riot of scents, all individually delightful, but together overwhelming. She smiled nonetheless, imagining Adrien darting through a flower shop, eager florist trailing behind as they put together the most unusual and perfect arrangement._

" _I love it," she assured him with a kiss on the cheek, grinning as the nervous tension flew from his expression at her touch._

" _I love you," he whispered, placing a hand lightly on her cheek. She leaned into the familiar hum of his energy._

" _Mr. Agreste," she forced herself a step back out of his reach and pretended to be scandalized, his awkwardness counteracting hers as they fell into the comfortable balance they always had. "I am a lady! At least buy me dinner before you start making such bold claims!"_

" _Of course, M'lady," he placed a hand over his heart in apology. "My mistake. Would you_ please _do me the honor of accompanying me to dinner?"_

 _He bowed slightly, holding out his hand and grinning up at her with his mischievous smile._

" _I'd be delighted," she pursed her lips together, but her smile peeked through nonetheless as he took her hand and placed it securely in the crook of his arm._

 _He escorted her down the stairs before leaning over and whispering in her ear._

" _I still love you."_

 _She threw her head back and laughed, his face lighting up as her peals of laughter echoed off the building around them._

" _I know, chaton," she reached up and placed a kiss on his cheek. "I know."_

She looked back down at the bouquet in her hands, not quite the multitude Adrien had given her that night that felt like an eternity ago, but still a beautiful rainbow of wildflowers. They were perfect for the petite bride and romantic theme of the evening. Wrapping the bunch in a burgundy bow that would compliment the blush colored wedding dress, Marinette turned, and headed back into the bridal suite.

Tikki turned at the sound of the door opening and Marinette felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes at the sight of her friend.

Her hair was slightly longer in front now, not quite a pixie style, but still cropped close at the base of her neck. Midnight locks curled delicately along her forehead, secured under a jeweled headband and short fishnet veil. Her dress started as a creamy white satin at the neckline before flowing into a blush pink towards the base and hem. The off-the shoulder, deep v-neck twisted to a knot just at the center of her chest, cinching under the bust and hugging Tikki's curves before flaring out into a dramatic mermaid skirt. It really was one of Marinette's finest designs and her friend looked radiant.

"Stop!" Tikki exclaimed with a smile towards her mentee. "If you cry, I'll cry and Trixx will kill us both if she has to re-do our make-up. Again!"

"Get it together, ladies!" Trixx's voice boomed from the en suite bathroom where Alya was finishing up her hair and Marinette laughed.

"Alright, alright, I will," Marinette wiped delicately at her eyes and strode forward towards Tikki. "God! Forgive me for getting emotional on my _sister's_ wedding day."

She held out the bouquet with a smirk and Tikki's smile softened.

When Adrien had been discharged from the hospital a week before Marinette, the staff had tried to escort Tikki out as well, the wing being open to family visitors only. Tikki refused to leave, claiming to be her sister, an affirmation quickly backed up by both Tom and Sabine. The staff had rolled their eyes but let it be, aptly judging that it was not worth the fight. Plagg and Adrien had also become impromptu family members, but her parents, and Marinette too, had taken Tikki's new status to heart. And when her Papa found out about Tikki's secret love for baking, it was a done deal. Not only did Marinette have a sister, but her father had a new protegee. It was like it had always been meant to be, and Marinette couldn't be happier.

"Well, when you put it like that," Tikki leaned forward and kissed her cheek before standing up straight and letting Marinette fuss with the dress. After a few minutes, Marinette stood back up, nodding in satisfaction.

"Am I perfect?" Tikki raised an eyebrow and Marinette smiled.

"Always," she responded easily. "Are you ready?"

"Always," Tikki answered just as quickly, looking to Trixx who was moving to open the door for the bride while Alya hurried to Marinette's side to help carry Tikki's train.

A short walk later, they arrived at the lobby of the small chapel, ornate oak doors the last barrier separating Tikki from Plagg as they awaited their musical cue. Alya kissed the bride's cheek before she slipped through the doors, her hair-styling duties done for the time being. Marinette smiled as she saw Nino waiting for her through the crack, chuckling at the lovestruck expression the boy's face still got every time he saw her and thankful that Fu had given up on even mentioning, let alone trying to enforce, the "no fraternizing" policy among protectors. Seeing as Alya and Nino were only one of three pairs of protector couples, one of which was currently about to get married, it was for the best to forget the outdated rule. She looked over at the glowing bride and smiled again. Her friends deserved happiness.

Sabine descended, coming to fuss over the bride as was only right and Tikki laughed, swatting at her hands playfully. Marinette smiled at the two of them, happy that she wouldn't quite leave her parents as empty nesters when she went to school in the states come fall. She'd miss them, and America was awfully far away, but it was an adventure. They'd be happy for her. She just had to work up the nerve to tell them.

"Having second thoughts?"The best man sidled up to her, taking his place next to her in the line up. She rolled her eyes over to Adrien with a smirk, not surprised in the least that he'd guessed where her thoughts had been. He was the only one she'd told so far about her acceptance to her dream program, and while he'd been completely supportive, she saw the sadness in his eyes at the thought of them being on separate continents.

"No," she bumped her hip against his and he pouted dramatically at her. She turned to face him, hand on her hip and eyes narrowed in his direction in challenge. "Are you done coming up with not-so-subtle reasons why I should stay?"

He smiled sheepishly down at her, reaching to tidy the strands of pearls around her neck as he refused to meet her eyes.

"It is very far," he began.

"There are planes," she countered.

"There are good programs in Paris, too."

"Not that I got a scholarship to."

"Well," he hedged, still fidgeting with the necklace. "Paris is much more friendly to open métamorphes than New York."

"Yes," she reached up and stilled his hands, clasping them between her own. "But, it is still in the top five cities in the world for us right now. They've enacted many anti-discriminatory laws in the last year alone. Also," she raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't you think I'm uniquely qualified to take care of myself? Even among métamorphes?"

"Yes," he murmured, finally looking up at her. "But-But won't you be...lonely?"

"Oh, I don't know," she smirked, kissing his fingertips before dropping his hands and turning to grab her bouquet. "I thought I'd get a cat."

Marinette wasn't looking at him but could _feel_ his reaction even before she turned and saw his slack jaw and betrayed eyes.

"A-A cat?"

"Yeah!" She quipped, her voice much too perky, but she was enjoying the comical look on his face far too much. "Actually there's this one I've had my eye on."

"Oh?"

"Of course," she continued, fiddling with her flowers, knowing if she looked up at him she'd lose it. "I have to make sure all his papers are in order. He did get waitlisted at an...obedience school in the city, but I'm confident he'll get in eventually. My cat is _pretty_ clever. But then, I'm biased."

"Naturally," he pursed his lips, looking away as his brow furrowed in confusion.

"And I still have to make sure the cat _wants_ to go."

"Of course you do," he murmured back, gazing at his shoes now and she smiled up at him.

"But I'm rather fond of him and really can't imagine leaving him here in Paris," she reached up to straighten Adrien's tie. "You see, I rescued him in an alley once and haven't been able to shake him since."

She moved her hands down to smooth out his lapels, waiting until it all clicked for him and Adrien's hopeful eyes met hers.

"I'm just hoping he's willing to follow this bug across the pond. Cats do hate the water," she smirked up at his dumbfounded expression.

"You do know I'm not actually a cat," he responded, echoing the words she'd spoken to him so long ago and she laughed, linking her arm with his as the music began to play and the doors opened signaling their cue.

"You do know I'm asking you to come with me," she fired back, starting the brief walk down the short aisle, glancing over when he hesitated before falling into step.

"You're sure?" He looked down at her, as if not daring to believe it. As if he hadn't realized that she'd chosen him long ago.

"Of you?" She smiled up at him as they came to the altar, his eyes a springtime she could get lost in, and replied without hesitation. " _Paw_ -sitive."

Taking her place on the bride's side of the altar, Marinette looked over at him and had to stifle her laugh at the goofy grin that overtook Adrien's face, his smile blinding as he looked at her.

 _Yes_ , he mouthed his answer, his exuberance contagious. Even Plagg couldn't contain his smile, as he spared a glance at them both and rolled his eyes. The groom's attention was quickly diverted though as the music changed and his eyes flew to his bride.

And when he saw her...well, even Adrien's grin was dim by comparison.


End file.
